The Christmas Exchange
by Sandy1983
Summary: Based on the movie "The Holiday." Elena is disappointed with her life in Los Angeles, so she makes a house swap with a man named Stefan Salvatore. She thinks that living a small town life for a short while will be good in order for her to clear her head. However, when she runs into Stefan's older brother Damon, how clear can she keep things for herself?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story was originally supposed to be a one-shot. But then I had my lovely friend Mollie (Everythingbasedonlove) look it over and she pleaded with me into making this a multi-chapter story. I caved ;) So this one goes out to her.**

_**The Christmas Exchange**_

Elena eyed the almost mansion-like house in front of her in absolute awe. Surely this was a mistake, she thought as she double checked the address on the piece of paper she held in her hand. _1922 Wickery Road. _Nope, this was definitely the right place. She had seen pictures of it, but it seemed so much grander in real life.

The gravel path that led up to the massive door crunched under her feet as she approached what would be her home for the next week. She must have been insane to sign up for this; clearly it had been a whim. But she needed time for herself, time to think, so she had logged onto the computer and had looked up the topic of house exchange. It seemed to be the latest hype; leaving your own place to someone else, while you make their house your own. Elena had deemed it a bit of a scary concept at first. She would be leaving her stuff with a complete stranger. But then again, the stranger would be in the same position as her. Considering the jaw-dropping manor in front of her, she was not the one getting the short end of the stick here.

The idea for this came to her after Elena had caught her boyfriend cheating on her with one of her best friends. She had been sick about it for days, before she decided that her life needed to change. Determined to make it happen, she had searched to swap houses with someone who didn't even remotely live in the vicinity of Los Angeles. She needed a small town with people who had no idea who she was; Elena Gilbert, the washed up child star that no one wanted to hire anymore. She was a closed book in Hollywood, and when her boyfriend had figured out that she wasn't worth what he had thought she was, he ditched her for one of her more famous and richer "friends."

The man she had spoken to online about this house swap would be getting a sore deal if he thought he was going to live big in L.A. But then again; she had been very honest with him about where exactly she lived in the City of Angels. Not Beverly Hills, not Bel Air, not Santa Monica... no, as of a month ago, she lived in a very small apartment in Venice Beach. She could have done worse, but it wasn't exactly a dream come true for her… or her boyfriend, which was why he had left.

Stefan Salvatore seemed to have troubles of his own when he had contacted her via the website where a picture of her apartment had been posted. They had used the website's chat room to discuss details and when exactly they were going to do this. Stefan had seemed almost as eager to leave this place, Mystic Falls, as she had been to leave Los Angeles. Of course, neither of them had talked about why they were in such a hurry to get out of their hometown. But Stefan had said he wanted to take a vacation where he could think about things in a warm environment, preferably with an ocean. Well, Los Angeles was perfect for that.

Of course, she had wanted the exact opposite; no warm environment, no ocean… just a small, meaningless town. And now here she was…

She opened the front door with the key that Stefan had left for her, and went in. The house was even more surreal on the inside, as she entered a hallway so stylish looking, she actually gasped. The living room was spectacular as she spotted a giant mantle piece in the middle of the room, with two massive windows on each side of it. Large, dark coloured couches were placed in front of the fireplace, and there was a huge Christmas tree in the corner of the room, giving the big room a homey feel.

Elena almost squealed. Surely, this Stefan Salvatore was insane for leaving such a wonderful house to a strange woman! She dropped her suitcases on the floor as she caught a glimpse of the latest surround sound system.

"No way!" she yelled out, before walking over towards it and turning some music on.

Pink's 'Get this party started' blared out of the speakers. Elena thought it couldn't have been a more meaningful song; yes, let's indeed get this party started! She jumped up on the couch, shouting out the lyrics with abandon. Oh, she would have so much fun in this house!

A short while later, she traipsed up the stairway to where the bedrooms were. She peaked into one room; it looked nice enough, with a small window that had a view of the gardens outside, a big enough bed in the centre of it, and a large bookcase. It was artfully done, but it didn't really appeal to her, so she glanced at the next room.

She stopped dead in her tracks with how absolutely exquisite this other room was; there was a huge bed, also in the centre of the room. But this bed was far more luxurious than the other one; it was made of oak and looked sturdy enough to handle dozens of children jumping up and down on it. On top of the bed were satin sheets. Elena almost blushed with the realisation that this was the bed of a man who liked to entertain women in it.

Really, was Stefan Salvatore that much of a ladies man? He didn't sound that way when she talked to him, but then again, she didn't really know him.

The bedroom had large, floor to ceiling windows, making it clear to Elena that this was a man who wasn't shy and liked to be in the limelight of things. Hmm, she wasn't sure how she felt about that. There were enough of those men in Hollywood, completely full of themselves. But she really didn't have to meet Stefan Salvatore, so that was okay. She just wanted to live in his house for a week.

The bathroom adjoining the bedroom was an absolute dream to her! There was a huge bath _and_ a shower, so she would get to choose. The shower stall was completely see though, making her wonder yet again if Stefan had an obsession with his own body if he wanted people to spot him with those big windows out there and the barely there shower stall in here. It was a rain-shower, though, so Elena definitely wanted her turn in there!

After her thorough inspection of the house, she decided that she needed to eat. Since her cooking skills were severely lacking, she would go out. Elena and Stefan had agreed to leave the car keys, so they could use each other's cars.

As soon as she saw the blue camaro in the garage, she was in love. And that one wasn't even the only car here. The man must have had a huge infatuation with everything car related. Still, the camaro was her favourite. She tried every car key, until she found the right one. A shiver of delight went through her when she slid into the car, her ass cheeks immediately caressed by leather.

"I am so going to get used to this," Elena sighed.

She started up the car and figured out how to open the garage door, before going into town. And it was a very small town indeed! There was a town square with about 4 streets surrounding it, that was it. But it seemed to hold a good diner, as Elena parked her car in front of a place called the 'Mystic Grill.'

Inside, it was everything she had imagined a small town bar & diner to be; there was a pool table in the corner, some tables and booths where people could eat, and a bar at the very end of the fairly big place. She sat down in one of the booths and ordered a burger with some fries. No need to watch her diet now that she wasn't dating or being hired for commercials or movies that required her to be a size 2. She dug in to her hearts content.

"Excuse me?" a young, blonde man approached her. "I don't think that I've noticed you around here before. Are you new in town?"

Elena gave him a friendly smile. He meant well, but she wasn't here to get picked up by a man. Far from it, actually. "I'm not staying long; just a very short vacation," she explained.

"Ah, you must be staying at the Mystic Falls Inn, then. I do hope you know that that hotel isn't a representation for this town. We are actually quite progressive on occasion," the blonde man tried to joke.

"I like Mystic Falls just fine, sir."

The man was cute, no doubt about it. He was also kind and trying hard for her, which was charming, but that's not what this vacation was for. She needed to be Elena Gilbert, without a man, manager or anything else by her side.

"My name is Matt. If you ever need someone to show you around town, I work right here at the Mystic Grill."

Elena offered another small smile, before letting him down gently. "I'll keep that in mind, Matt. It's very kind of you."

She actually felt guilty as she looked at those puppy-dog eyes, looking down in disappointment at her keeping him at bay and not offering him at least her name. He gave her a pained smile, before making a quick getaway.

Well, at least the men were a whole lot nicer in this town than they were back in Los Angeles. That was always a plus!

She paid her bill and drove back to the house, still not quite believing why Stefan Salvatore had left a nice town like this for a snake pit like L.A. She felt as if she was in heaven as she almost danced her way back into the house. This vacation was going to do her a world of good!

As she noticed a wine cellar located at the basement of the house, with a collection of wine and bourbon so fine, that some of her famous friends would be jealous, her vacation was set. She broke into the Dom, while turning on the massive TV in the living room and enjoying a nice evening getting tipsy with an episode of 'Friends.' Afterwards, she went up to the bedroom with the massive, oak bed and settled in for the night.

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE

From the moment Elena felt herself rousing slowly, she felt as if something was wrong. She couldn't really pinpoint the feeling, until she finally rolled over in the big bed and opened her eyes. Sitting up in alarm, she stared into the eyes of the most attractive man she had ever seen. Unfortunately, he was glaring angrily at her.

"You've got 10 seconds to explain to me what the hell you are doing in my house!" Mr. Sexy warned her.

Elena rubbed her eyes in confusion, still trying to clear the cobwebs in her sleepy brain. Yes, she was in a strange house, but she had an arrangement with Stefan Salvatore. This wasn't him, was it? Otherwise, someone was playing a weird trick on her.

"I…," she stammered. Being stared at by a hot man wasn't helping matters here! She was a mess!

"The clock is ticking, lady," the hot man reminded her.

"Give me a second to wake up!" she snapped back at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should be way more considerate to a girl who has obviously broken into my house and made herself at home in my bed!"

_His bed?_

Oh hell! She was beginning to think that she had indeed been played here. She knew that it had been too good to be true! The giant house, the use of several cars, a bedroom to play basketball in…

Shit! And this Stefan Salvatore now had access to her house, while she was going to get kicked out of this place! Oh crap, she was going to have to call the police…

"That's it. If you don't start talking, I'm calling the police. I don't even care that it's Christmas Eve tonight," the blue eyed god pulled her out of her revere. Elena jumped out of bed at that.

"Wait! Stefan Salvatore invited me here. It was him who left the key for me. I swear that I didn't break in! We both signed up to this house swap website. He is currently residing in my apartment while I stay in his, that is how it works!"

She had momentarily forgotten about the skimpy pyjamas she had worn, showing off her long, olive legs and the top of her breasts to this mysterious stranger. He had noticed. His cerulean eyes were now slowly taking her in, making her flush underneath his stare.

"You might want to cover yourself up. I see that you're a bit cold," he told her with a smirk that she was already started to detest. He was right, though. Her nipples practically pierced her top, and she immediately dove for her robe.

"Listen, I don't know who you are. But call Stefan Salvatore, he will tell you everything. I'm not lying here," she tried again, after she had tied the strings of her robe together to protect her body from his heated gaze.

"I will do that."

He reached for his cell phone and dialled a number. Elena waited in anticipation, sincerely hoping that Stefan would calm this man down, before he would have her thrown in jail.

"Stef! Yeah, funny story here. I found this girl in my bed… Yeah, I know that happens a lot, but I don't know who she is. Okay, I know that that happens a lot as well, but I'm completely sober this time!"

Elena wanted to laugh at the jabs that Stefan was obviously throwing this man over the phone, but she refrained from showing it. This dark haired man would probably kill her!

"Stefan, I would highly suggest that you stop making fun of my lifestyle and start explaining. She's yammering on about some house swap that the two of you did. Were you really that stupid, letting some strange girl come into our house and use all of our stuff? You did? Well, consider yourself off my Christmas list this year! You never thought to talk about this with me first?"

Wait. These two men lived together? Elena wanted to groan at how the plot was thickening quickly here.

"I know I'm not home much, Stef. But I am now, and here I find a girl sleeping in my bed. On top of that, I think she broke into our supply of alcohol, and you know how precious my alcohol is to me!"

"I'm sorry," Elena mumbled.

The angry man held up his finger in order to silence her, before continuing his rant. "If she drove my camaro, Stefan, I'm going to hang you up by your nuts! You do know that, right?"

Elena paled. Oh God, the camaro was _his_?!

"Enjoy your vacation, little bro. You're in for a whole lot of shit when you get home!"

The man ended the phone call abruptly, before stalking over towards her things in the bathroom. He picked them up, before dumping them down on the bed. Elena's eyes widened at his actions. Was he throwing her out?

"Pack up your things and leave. I've had a lousy couple of days and I'm in a foul mood. All I want right now is my house to myself. So you can take your cute little ass and go home to celebrate Christmas. I need my peace."

Elena latched onto the man's arm to stop him from dumping even more of her things on his bed. "Now wait a second, here! This isn't my fault! Stefan and I had a deal. Please don't kick me out on Christmas Eve. I've got nowhere to go, remember. Your… brother, is he? He's staying at my apartment and he obviously doesn't want to leave yet. Now where does that leave me?" she pleaded.

For a moment their eyes connected, leaving Elena a little weak in the knees. This man was way too attractive for his own good.

"I don't know and I do not care," were his only words. "My brother dropped this little bombshell on me. All I wanted was a nice and quiet Christmas. I never signed up for having a woman in my house. Why don't you go over to Stefan and kick him out of your apartment? Everything can go back to normal."

Elena let out a shill laugh. "Normal? God, the entire reason I came here was because my life wasn't normal! I needed some time to think, as did your brother. If I go back now, all of this will be for nothing!"

She felt the tears before she could stop them; long, hot tracks were sliding down her cheeks, obviously leaving the man a bit unsure of what to do.

"Please don't cry. I don't do crying woman here. I tell you what; I'll call the Mystic Falls Inn and see if they have a vacancy. That's about as nice as I can get today. Take it or leave it," he offered.

Elena gave him a small smile through her tears. Yeah, that would be okay. She wanted to stay in this small town, having time to herself without worrying about anything else.

"Very well," the man nodded in satisfaction. "Do you have a name that I can give out to them?"

"Elena Gilbert. My name is Elena Gilbert."

She watched as the man left with his cell phone, before calmly packing up her belongings. I was uncanny how she had chosen this man's room to sleep in out of all the rooms that this house had. There was just an atmosphere to it that she genuinely liked.

When she had finished up with the final items, the man came back with a scowl on his face, making Elena's stomach drop. "Apparently, Mystic Falls is pretty popular this year. No vacancy at the Inn. _It is the season after all_," he obviously mimicked the voice of the person he had talked to on the phone.

Elena sat down on his bed, defeated. "Now what?" she mumbled to herself.

"Listen, Elena…," Mr. attractive, whose name she still didn't know, started. "I…"

"It's all right," Elena interrupted him. "I've already packed up. I'll be out of your hair in no time and I'll go back to Los Angeles. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

She picked up her suitcases and went to walk out of his room, when he stopped her. "Look, maybe if you can stick to yourself a bit, you can stay in a guest room here until after Christmas. But I'm still kicking you out after that. Like I said before; I need my space right now and I can't have that if you're around. Deal?"

Elena's jaw almost dropped. That was certainly very generous and more than he was entitled to give her, considering that this was his home.

"Yes, thank you so much!"

The man gave her a curtly nod. "Okay, then. If we're going to do this, we might as well make some introductions here. Damon Salvatore."

Elena grasped his extended hand. The touch of his skin to hers was something she had never experienced; she felt warm, giddy and wanted to revel in it. She actually felt herself blushing, as her heart rate picked up.

"Elena Gilbert. But I said that already," she stammered.

"Nice to meet you, Elena. Now, some ground rules here. I don't do presents tomorrow morning, so no sappy things. I actually hate Christmas, so that goddamn tree you saw downstairs is al Steffie's doing. I swear, he can be such a woman to live with!"

Elena laughed at that. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, no more walking around in those skimpy pyjamas. I am a man here, Elena, and I'm certainly no gentleman. It would be best if you keep that in mind." Damon eyed her seriously.

"Yes, of course," Elena swallowed.

"Also, don't drive the camaro. It's mine, it's my baby and no one is allowed in it except me. Understood?"

Elena looked down with shame.

"You drove the camaro, didn't you?" Damon snapped. "I will go and check her out right now. If my baby is harmed, not spotless or anything else, you'll be spending Christmas Day cleaning her. Are we clear?"

"Yes."

"Good, then I think we will get along perfectly."

**Thank you for reading :) Please let me know your thoughts about this in a review. I'm also curious if there are any readers interested in seeing Stefan pairing up with anyone in Los Angeles during the house swap. If yes, I've already got someone in mind and I'll add a piece about them into the story. Thank you!**

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Is that an update? So soon? Yep! I intend to make this story about seven chapters long and I want to finish it around the end of January. Considering the fact that this is a story surrounding the holidays (and the holidays are sadly behind us), I don't want this to drag on until next Christmas. LOL! I hope you enjoy the ride. Thank you all for giving me such an amazing response about it! *hugs all around!***

_**Bad Santa**_

"So," Elena asked Damon carefully. "What are you going to do tonight?"

"Like I said before," Damon replied, eyeing her warily as he chewed around a mouthful of ravioli, "I don't do Christmas. I might just go out and get wasted at the bar."

Elena raised her eyebrows at that. He really did have a thing against Christmas, didn't he? She couldn't help but wonder what had happened in the past, to make him so ambivalent towards the Holidays. Of course, she wouldn't dare ask, because he had made it very clear that he didn't want to get up close and personal with her. He was merely tolerating her presence, because he didn't have the heart to kick her out on Christmas.

She realised that he was nicer than he let on, though. Right now, the two were enjoying an Italian meal that Damon had cooked himself. It was actually very good, and Elena almost wanted to lick the spicy sauce from her plate. Of course, to mask the fact that he had done a nice thing, he had to go and be grumpy all though dinner.

"This is really good, Damon," Elena tried to bring him out of his shell. Maybe flattery would work. "It certainly beats the greasy meal I had at the Mystic Bar & Grill last night."

"Hmm," he gruffly responded, barely giving her an acknowledgement with a brief glance towards her before staring down at his meal once again.

"Do all the men in your family know how to cook Italian? I mean, with your last name and all, it must be something that's in your gene pool."

"Please," Damon snorted, clearly resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "Stefan can barely boil an egg without needing assistance. He eats more take-out shit than your average American. I'm ashamed to share my last name with him."

"What about your family, then?" she asked gently. "I mean, who taught you about the Italian cooking skills?"

"My mother."

Elena's heart almost melted with the thought that this cranky, distant man had once been a small boy, peeking over the kitchen counter to see what his mother was cooking.

"Does your mother live in Mystic Falls?" she asked, daring to push the envelope of his feelings more.

"Nope."

"Do any of your relatives live here, or is it just you and Stefan?"

Damon inhaled deeply as he put his fork down, glaring at her. "You ask a lot of questions for someone who just promised me that she would stick to herself. I don't want to chit chat here, Elena. Just finish your meal, so I can clean up and go out in a few. "

Elena nearly scowled. She knew he had a point, but she was only making conversation; he didn't have to be a dick! What the hell was shoved up his ass? Jeez, no wonder Stefan had ran all the way to Los Angeles! He probably had to get away from the Grinch.

They finished their meal in an awkward silence.

A short moment later, as Damon was putting away dishes in the dishwasher, Elena came to a conclusion about what to do with this situation. Asshole or not, she wasn't going to let this man dictate her how to spend her Christmas Eve! She had come here to make the most of a soul-searching vacation. If she hadn't run into Mr. Cranky-pants, she probably would have gone out as well, seeing if there was anything fun to do here in this town on Christmas Eve.

She straightened her shoulders and walked back downstairs, just as Damon was slipping into his leather jacket. She walked by him without saying a word, and grabbed her coat.

"What are you doing?" Damon asked her a bit befuddled, seeing that she was buttoning herself up.

Elena looked him square in the eye. "I'm going with you to that bar."

"Like hell you are!"

Elena ignored his outburst and opened up the front door to reveal a cab waiting for them. Damon must have called them while he was taking care of the dishes.

"Are you coming?" she asked him curtly.

Damon clenched his jaw, trying to control his temper. "You, . .Me," he stressed each word.

"Oh, yes I am. You see, I realised something. I've had quite enough people in my life back in Los Angeles who always told me what to do, how to do it and how to live my life. I'm tired of it. Now, I appreciate the fact that you haven't kicked me out on Christmas, but that doesn't mean that you get a say in how I spend my time here. If I want to go to a bar, I will go to a bar. And that's that."

She finished up her tirade with a sweep of her hair, and confidently strode up to the cab. She got in and slammed the cab door closed, leaving Damon blinking at her in confusion from the doorway of the Salvatore boarding house, before finally climbing in with her.

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DE

The Mystic Bar & Grill was packed; apparently there was a band playing tonight and it seemed as if everyone in Mystic Falls had come out to see them. Elena watched as Damon immediately placed himself at the bar and ordered himself a bourbon. She came to stand next to him and addressed the bartender.

"I'll have what he's having," she said, nodding her head in Damon's direction.

Damon's eyes widened in amused surprise. "Really, Elena? Bourbon?"

Elena shrugged.

"What? Just because I'm tiny, doesn't meant that I can't hold my liquor!"

The bartender came back with her drink and she chugged it back in one go, leaving Damon completely dumbfounded.

"You're not going to be able to walk tonight, you know," he informed her.

"Yeah well, then you are just going to have to carry me up to bed, won't you?"

As soon as she had said it, she realised how flirty it sounded. She blushed a furious shade of crimson and looked down at her empty glass in shame.

"Be careful there, Elena. I just might do that," Damon told her with darkened eyes.

Elena felt her heart beginning to pound with his words. No matter how much of a jerk he was, he was still attractive as hell, and the whole point of this vacation was to be her own person without a man. Men would complicate things, big time. Especially this man, who obviously had a lot of inner turmoil underneath that hard exterior.

After about 4 drinks, Damon began to open up a little more. He leaned his head in his hand and eyed her up and down slowly, making Elena squirm a bit, before asking: "What's your story, Elena? Why leave Los Angeles for a place like this?"

"I thought you didn't want to get acquainted with a girl whom you'll be kicking out after Christmas Day?" she said with a smile.

"What can I say? I'm bored and I've got nothing better to do anyway. So shoot. What's the deal with you?"

Elena rolled her newly ordered drink around in her glass, sighing.

"I'm currently between jobs, without a boyfriend and without a best friend, because the boyfriend slipped into the best friend's bed," she told him.

Damon's eyebrows shot up at that. "Ouch!"

"That's Los Angeles for you," she stated. "One day you're hot stuff and the next, they drop you to go and check out the fresher meat. They get bored easily, you know. It's a very shallow life and I'm just tired of it. I wanted to go to a town that wouldn't know who I was or what my background is. For once, I want people to talk to me for _me_, and not for my name and whatever money they think I've got in my bank account."

"So you're kind of famous, then? What did you do in Los Angeles? Acting, singing, stand-up comedy?" Damon wanted to know.

Elena laughed at his final comment.

"I was an actress from when I was 10 until about three years ago. When I turned eighteen, I wasn't the cute child star anymore; I had grown up."

"Any movies or TV shows I could know you from?"

"Probably not," Elena shrugged. "I never did any major parts, just cameo-appearances and commercials. Still, people knew me well enough in Los Angeles, which is why I wanted to get away from there and go to a small town where hopefully people wouldn't have heard of me."

"So you started acting at the age of ten? Isn't that a bit young?" Damon questioned as he took a sip from his drink.

"I kind of liked the attention it got me. I didn't get any of that at home with a father that ran out when I was 6 and a mother who was trying to bury her grief over it by dragging me from audition to audition."

Damon remained quiet at that, and Elena felt a bit uncomfortable with how much information about herself she had already revealed. She didn't want a pity party here, and certainly not with a strange, albeit very handsome man. She lost herself too easily in things and she refused to do it with him. He was kicking her out after tomorrow, so there was no need to bare her soul to him.

"So what about you," Elena quickly changed the subject. "I've told you a bit about me, it's only fair that you shed some light about your complex persona."

Damon took a sip of his drink.

"You think that I'm a complex persona?"

"Absolutely. You're moody, not very talkative and you don't like Christmas. Who doesn't like Christmas!" Elena exclaimed.

"Please! A jolly- crazed party with lights and dancing around a tree that leaves a mess? No, thank you."

"Okay, fine. So don't tell me why you don't like Christmas, but at least give me something here! I barely know what you look like with how much time you've spent cooped up in your study today."

"How about I flash you after I get out of the shower tonight. Then you will know what I look like for _sure_," Damon smirked cheekily at her.

Elena's mouth dropped open. "You're a pig!"

"All right, all right. Don't get your panties into a twist. Let's see, what is there to know about me? Well, I'm 30 years old, I grew up in Mystic Falls, but I travel a lot for Salvatore Inc., I like my cars, my liquor and I sleep around a lot, according to my brother. That's actually why I came here tonight; I wanted to drink some bourbon, flirt with some blonde and take her home for some Christmas Eve sex. But you see, then you decided to tag along and now these blondes here might get the wrong impression. Unless I can find one who doesn't mind the female presence in my company. Say, are you into threesomes?" Damon asked her with a grin.

Elena wanted to slap that stupid smirk off of his face! God, this man was such an ass! Here she thought that he mighty actually turn out to be an okay guy tonight, but then he turned around and became all obnoxious again.

"You're an un evolved swine, Mr. Salvatore!"

Damon held up his hands in surrender. "I was joking, Elena. Come on, I'll order you another bourbon."

The rest of the night turned out all right. Damon tried to hold in his snide remarks and was actually very funny on occasion. They enjoyed the music played by the band and nursed their drinks, watching everybody dance from the bar. At one point, however, things began to get very blurry for Elena. She obviously had too much too drink and it was clouding her brain…

When she woke up on Christmas morning, she sat up in alarm, immediately regretting that decision when her head began to throb.

"Oh lord, what have I done?" she groaned.

Maybe trying to keep up with Damon and his bourbon hadn't been such a good idea! She tried to focus her burning eyes on where exactly she was, because she couldn't remember a thing, not even getting home last night. She noticed that she was safe and sound in her bed at the Salvatore boarding house.

Maybe Damon had carried her up to bed after all, she thought with a chuckle. She wasn't chuckling anymore when she noticed her attire, however. Her clothes from last night were gone, and she was wearing her pyjamas. Had Damon undressed her? The thought alone made her blush like crazy. Damon was nowhere in sight, though, and it made her wonder what had happened after things had gotten a little hazy the night before.

She rubbed her eyes and tried to get out of bed, groaning as her stomach started to churn. Oh, she was never doing this again! Damon had been right; she was definitely too much of a girl to hold her liquor like a man such as him.

"_I told you that you were too tiny for a man's drink," Damon chuckled as Elena almost fell from the cab. He paid the driver, before thanking him and grabbing onto Elena to hold her upright. _

"_I had fun!" Elena piped up. _

_Damon laughed. _

"_Yeah, I'll bet. The bartenders also had fun watching you dance on top of their bar. You managed to entertain the entire place, honey."_

The memories came pouring back in as Elena sat back down on top of her bed in shame. Had she really danced on top of a bar? What else had she done? She hoped that she could still show her face in town after last night!

"_Girls j..just wanna h..have fuuuuuuunnnn!" Elena hiccupped as Damon dragged her inside the boarding house. _

"_You're lucky I live remote. You would have woken up the entire neighbourhood with your singing. I think I can hear dogs howling with how off key you are," Damon insulted her, though his tone was light._

"_Hey, that's not nice!"_

"_There, we're inside now. Do you think you can make it up the stairs without toppling back down again?"_

_Elena put her hand in her pocket and started to giggle. She held up her other hand to her mouth to stifle the sound. "I did something naughty," she whispered. _

_Damon's eyebrows shot up. "You did?"_

_Elena nodded earnestly. _

"_I don't think that S…Santa will bring me presents t..tomorrow. I stole something from the bar," she confessed. _

_Damon took off his leather jacket as he watched her. _

"_Well, I hope it's not more bourbon."_

_Elena pulled her hand out of her pocket and almost keeled over with laughter. _

"_Christmas ornaments!" she exclaimed. _

_Damon's eyes narrowed as he eyed what she held in her hand incredulously. "Really, Elena? You stole a mistletoe, that's your big crime? I doubt that they'll miss it."_

_Elena jabbed a finger into his chest. _

"_Now you have to kiss me," she sang drunkenly with a bright smile. _

_She held up the mistletoe teasingly as she puckered her lips and made kissing noises. _

"_I'm not going to kiss you, Elena," Damon told her. _

_Elena pouted, before pushing him back against the wall with amazing force for someone so drunk. She put her hands on his chest, before raising the mistletoe above them again. Pressing her hips against his to really pin him down, she demanded: "Kiss me.__Y'knowyouwanna," she slurred, her words running together._

_Damon's eyes darkened with the position that they were in and he groaned. _

"_This is a terrible idea," he warned her. "You're going to regret this in the morning and like I said; I'm no gentleman."_

_Elena pushed even harder against him. _

"_It's j..just a Christmas k..kiss. No worries," she stated in her drunken voice. _

"_Fine! Just remember that you asked for it," Damon relented, before lowering his head. _

_Even if she was drunk, from the moment his cool lips touched hers, she felt something so hot and demanding rip through her, it spun her world. It was only supposed to be a small kiss; a quick peck, but when his mouth closed over hers, she opened up for him willingly. _

_She wanted more; he tasted like heaven and she couldn't get enough. Her tongue slid into his mouth, searching, caressing, hungry for what he had to offer. Her lower abdomen clenched with all the feelings that were evoked in her. It was beyond anything anyone had ever done to her. She dropped the mistletoe as she wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to get as close to him as possible. _

_Damon's hand was making drugging circles onto her back, causing shivers to go through her and goose-bumps to appear on her skin. She could feel the evidence of how much he was into the kiss pressing into her belly, when he suddenly pushed her off of him. _

"_What are you doing to me?" he breathed. _

_Elena frowned at him._

"_What do you mean?"_

_The scowl was back on his face; Mr. Grumpy had returned. "Nothing. Go to bed, I'll see you in the morning."_

_Elena made it up to her bedroom safely, still wondering what had happened downstairs with Damon. Why had he gone from hot to cold so fast? This man baffled her so much. _

_She crawled onto her bed, still fully dressed, as her wobbly legs refused to co-operate in letting her take her clothes off. She buried her head into the pillow, trying to stop the world from spinning. But was it spinning because of the alcohol, or from what Damon had made her feel? Before she had a chance to think about this, she fell into an exhausted sleep._

Elena's eyes widened with the memory of that kiss. God, she had practically thrown herself at him, pressing him into the wall like that! What would he think of her now, after he had specifically warned her… after she had warned herself not to get up close and personal with him?

Burying her head in her hands, she made a silent vow never to touch bourbon again. This vacation was so not going the way she had planned it! She had wanted to be on her own, getting to know this small town and finding out who she was herself, without Los Angeles, the men and all the camera's.

It was a good thing that Damon wasn't in this room with her and that nothing had happened. She didn't think she could face him right now. But then again, had her clothes come off miraculously? Had she managed to do it herself after waking up, or had she gone to Damon and demanded that he do it for her?

While that memory refused to reappear, Elena knew that this Christmas was quickly turning into something she would never forget…

**Thank you for reading. Please review :)**

**Special thanks to my beta Kate (This Is My Escape).**

**P.S. Mollie, you know I love you, right?! ;)**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Behind the Man**_

Elena made it down the stairs with unsure steps, not really knowing how to face Damon when she saw him…which was going to be in just a few moments. Her heart drummed in her chest at the thought of asking him what had happened to her clothes. What had they done? Had he come to her room? Had she, in her drunken stupor, asked him to sleep with her or something? Her knees went weak as she heard him rummaging around in the kitchen. With each step closer to where he was, she felt sicker and sicker. Or maybe that was just the hangover talking. Her head was throbbing and she was in a foul mood, so she hoped Damon wouldn't be too much of a cranky ass today.

As she approached him, she could see that he looked impeccable; the alcohol appeared to not have affected him at all. He was dressed in his usual trademark bad boy look; dark jeans and a dark shirt, to which the first four buttons were left open to reveal some of his pale skin. Elena unconsciously licked her lips, trying very hard to block out the image of their kiss last night.

Damon was just finishing up making coffee for himself. That smirk of his, which she had come to hate within the time span of 24 hours, crept up on his face as he spotted her.

"Look who's back in the land of the living," he joked.

Elena held up her hand to silence him. "Could you not? I feel like Santa ran over me with his sleigh and his reindeers trampled my head in the process. I'm in a bad mood, so no funny business."

Damon leaned back against the counter, coffee cup in hand, and arched his eyebrows. "Define funny business," he quipped, lifting the cup to his lips and taking a sip. "Do you mean no more smooching underneath a stolen piece of mistletoe? Or wait… you must be referring to taking off your clothes in the middle of the hallway upstairs?"

Elena paled at his words.

"Did I guess right?" he smirked.

Had she really done that? Had she left her bedroom to go stripping in the hallway? Dear lord, what had he seen? She sat down at the counter and buried her head in her hands, groaning.

The memories were slowly coming to her now; after she had woken up last night, she had thrown up all over her clothes. Disoriented and still very drunk, she had stumbled out into the hallway, trying to find a hamper for her to put her soiled clothes in. She must have thought she had found one, because she had started stripping right then and there.

Elena peaked up at Damon between the spaces of her fingers. "You were there for that?" she mumbled.

Damon put down his coffee cup and crossed his arms. "I was," he nodded with a bright smile.

Elena's eyes shot fire at him as she put her hands back down. "You could have stopped me, you know! I was drunk; I didn't know what I was doing!"

"I could have, yes," Damon shrugged cheekily.

"But you put me back to bed, right? I mean, you helped me with my pyjamas and then you…," Elena stopped as another memory washed over her. Her eyes widened. "Did I beg you to stay at one point?"

His face fell so slightly, she nearly missed it. "Yep."

"You didn't, did you?" Elena narrowed her eyes at Damon.

"Call me crazy, but having sex with someone who's out cold is not very appealing to me. I like my women a bit more responsive." He quickly checked his watch. "Listen, I have to be somewhere. There are some already made sandwiches in the fridge. Feel free to help yourself to those. There's some coffee left in the coffee pot. I should be back before dinner. We will have an extra guest tonight."

Really, an extra guest? Ugh! Damon was not bringing one of his sleeping buddies over tonight, was he? Elena ignored the weird stab of jealousy that hit her at that thought.

"All right," she conceded. "Well, I guess I'll see you tonight then."

As Elena watched Damon put on his leather jacket and head out the door, she realised that she was actually disappointed to be alone on Christmas Day. Strange, since that had actually been the plan when she had decided to do the house swap. It's not like anyone was waiting for her back in L.A. anyway. Her boyfriend had stolen her best friend from her and her mother was off to Palm Springs with some wannabe director.

No, when she made that deal with Stefan, the plan was to relax, read a book, find out who she really was without Hollywood and just enjoy herself. Then, she had met Damon; the most annoying, cranky, sarcastic, mysterious and sexy man she had ever met. _He's a tough one to figure out,_ she mused over a delicious sandwich.

Damon was fun and actually nice one moment, and an obnoxious jerk the next. The proof of that had been right in front of her this morning; he had made fun of her behaviour last night like the ass that he was, but then he had turned around and left sandwiches for her in the fridge. It was all very confusing to keep up with his many moods.

After she had finished her breakfast and coffee, she went back upstairs to go and see about her dirty clothes, when her eyes landed on her bed.

"_You're actually an okay guy, Mr. Salvatore," Elena giggled, as Damon helped her get into bed._

_Damon gave a small smile. "Yeah, well. Let's hope you won't remember that in the morning. I kind of like having the reputation of being a dick. Dicks don't help a girl out when she is standing in their hallway, in nothing but her bra and panties."_

"_S.. sorry about the lamp. I really did think that I had run into a hamper," Elena apologised._

_Damon turned around to see a top dangling from said lamp outside in the hallway. "I'll send you a cleaning bill once you're back in Los Angeles," he chuckled. "First my Camaro, now my lamp. You are definitely leaving your impression on my stuff."_

"_Hey! Nothing h.. happened to your p.. precious Camaro, dick!" Elena hiccupped in a still drunken voice. _

"_You drove it, that's what happened to my Camaro!"_

_Elena put an arm over her eyes and sighed. "Ugh! You are so poss..ss..sessive over things!"_

"_I just don't like people touching what is mine."_

"_If that's the w.. way you are with a car, I would hate so s.. see the way you are with a w.. woman!"_

_Elena peeked up at him from under her arm as his eyes clouded over. Had she said something wrong? _

"_It's a good thing that you won't find out about my way with women, then."_

_Elena's hand shot out to stop Damon, as he was about to get up and leave. "I'm s.. sorry. I wasn't nice. Please don't leave!"_

_Damon sat back down on the edge of the bed and gave her a stern look. "We both need to get some sleep or tomorrow is going to be hell."_

_Elena shook her head and sat up, causing the sheets to fall down to her waist and her pyjama top to be exposed. Damon's eyes instantly fell down to where her breasts where confined. _

"_Elena," he warned. _

_Ignoring that warning, she inched a little closer to him, until their lips where a hairsbreadth away from each other. "Maybe this would be a good idea. You see, the guy that left me for my best friend m.. may have made a comment about me not knowing how to do this."_

"_This being what?" Damon wanted to know. _

"_Sex."_

_He cocked an eyebrow. "Somehow I find that very hard to believe."_

_Elena watched as Damon chuckled and she scowled at him "This isn't funny! A girl doesn't f.. forget a comment like that."_

_Damon put his hands on her shoulders and pushed her back down, so she was lying on her pillow again. "First of all, your ex was an ass for saying something like that, and I'm sure he said it to cover up for his own shortcomings. Secondly, I'm not going to go there, Elena. You're way too drunk, seeing as how you mistook my lamp for a hamper!"_

"_So if I wasn't drunk," she smiled playfully, "you would go there?"_

"_Goodnight, Elena!" Damon looked at her pointedly. _

_Elena wanted to make another comment, but felt her eyes drooping. Before she knew it, she was out cold. _

Elena sat down on her bed and sighed. She really had made a fool of herself last night, hadn't she? What surprised her the most, though, was how Damon hadn't mentioned her pleas this morning. Sure, he had made fun of her mistletoe actions and the stripping in the hallway, but when it came to her insecure confessions, he had kept his mouth shut. She remembered what he had told her yesterday morning, about him not being a gentleman. But he had certainly behaved as a gentleman last night. He just chose to cover it up with a snarky attitude with a sense of aloofness. She may have misjudged him.

The rest of the day was pretty boring as Elena found it hard to keep busy. After washing her clothes and tidying up her bedroom a bit, she had tried reading. But after figuring out that she had read the same page over and over again, she gave up. She had also taken one of Stefan's cars (certainly not the Camaro!) out for a spin. Unfortunately, everything in Mystic Falls had been closed due to Christmas Day. Understandable, of course, but it made Elena drive around in circles until she found herself back at the Salvatore boarding house.

When the phone rang, she was almost happy that she could talk to someone again.

"Hello?"

"_Hi, Elena?"_ a masculine voice questioned on the other end of the line.

"Stefan?"

"_Yeah, that's me. How is everything in Mystic Falls? I hope my brother is treating you all right,"_ Stefan chuckled, obviously still remembering the way his brother had barked at everyone over her staying at the house.

"Actually, he's been very nice," Elena told him.

"_Really? That's… usually not a word to describe my brother. Sarcastic and witty, yes. Nice.. no,"_ Stefan joked.

Elena felt the powerful need to defend Damon. Sure, he was an ass. But he was a nice ass… plus, he also had a nice ass! She chuckled at her own inner joke.

"Your brother is not the bad guy he wants everyone to believe he is."

"_All right, I'm glad that he's being friendly to you. I'm sorry about all this, by the way. I guess I should have told him about the house exchange, but I honestly didn't think that he would be home for Christmas. He usually hides somewhere until the 'jolly' season is over."_

"Still, you should have told him," Elena berated Stefan a bit.

"_Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. Where is that dear ole brother of mine?"_

Elena bit her lip and looked around. She had actually been wondering about that herself all day. Did he have plans with someone for Christmas Day? He did say that he was bringing a guest over tonight. Maybe they were off doing god knows what right now.

"I actually don't know," she confessed to Stefan. "He left this morning, told me that he wouldn't be back until around dinner tonight."

"_Oh, I think I know where he is then,"_ Stefan said quietly. It irked Elena. Where all the Salvatore men this mysterious about things? _"So, are you enjoying your vacation so far?"_ the subject was quickly changed.

Elena frowned at his evasiveness, but answered anyway. "You have a lovely small town here, Stefan. And this house is to die for! I can't believe you put it up for house exchange! You must be holding up a little differently in my small apartment in Venice Beach."

"_Actually, I'm enjoying it. The weather is warm, the ocean is beautiful and your apartment is big enough for me. I spend my days strolling across the beach and watching these artists do their thing. Oh, your friend came by the other day. She's nice,"_ Stefan said with an obvious happiness in his voice.

Elena felt her heart skip a beat. "What friend?" she whispered. Not the one who had a thing for her ex, right?

"_Caroline Forbes. She's been kind enough to show me around town a bit. We uhm.. she's really nice," _Stefan stumbled a bit over his words.

It made Elena smile. Yes, Caroline was nice and not someone who had ever screwed her over. Sure, she was bossy, had an opinion about everything and could be a bit shallow at times. But overall, she was a good friend and she had obviously made an impression on Stefan.

"Okay. Give my love to her when you see her again. Tell her I'll be back tomorrow."

"_Wait! Tomorrow? I thought that we had agreed on doing this exchange for 9 days. We've barely hit 3 right now! Is Mystic Falls not being to your liking?"_ Stefan panicked.

Elena sighed.

"You're brother is kicking me out after Christmas. He wanted to do it before, but there was no vacancy at the Mystic Falls Inn, so we agreed on me staying here until after today. It's fine, really. I'm becoming quite bored by myself. Like I said, your town is lovely, but I'm just used to a whole lot of activity."

"_But… Oh well, okay then. I guess I'll book a hotel for the remainder of my vacation," _Stefan grumbled a bit.

Elena grinned when she figured out the exact reason why he wanted to stay.

"That's fine. I'll tell your brother you called."

"_Yes, thank you. I'll call him later."_

So Stefan was enjoying himself with Caroline? Elena thought it was cute and Caroline surely deserved to date a nice guy again after her Tyler Lockwood debacle. That man had been a hot headed jerk who liked to slap women around! Maybe Stefan Salvatore would be good for her.

At around 6 p.m. Damon still hadn't returned. Elena was feeling crabbier by the second, cooped up in there by herself. She decided to dance a bit to that amazing surround sound system. Just as she was singing (more like screeching) and jumping around like crazy, someone startled her.

A little boy was standing behind her and eyeing her in a funny way over her antics. "Hello," he waved as she turned around to face him.

"Hello," Elena returned the greeting as she held her hand to her chest. Her heart was still pounding from all that jumping around and that little boy's interruption. "Who are you, buddy?"

And how did he get in?

The kid seemed very familiar, but Elena couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, seeing as she was sure she had never laid eyes on him in her life.

"My name's Lorenzo," the boy told her. "What's yours?"

Elena sank down to her knees in front of him. "I'm Elena," she smiled. "What are you doing here, sweetie?"

Just then, Damon stumbled through the front door with a very large box of already opened presents. He was scowling as he eyed the young boy.

"Lorenzo! Could you stop harassing the lady over there and help me out? These are _your_ presents I had to haul all the way over here, because you simply couldn't leave just one behind!"

It was then that Elena saw it; why the boy had looked familiar. They looked exactly alike with the messy, black hair and the piercing blue eyes.

"Yes, Daddy!" the boy quickly said as he hurried off to help Damon.

Elena knew that she was gaping as she watched the two, but she couldn't help it. _Damon was a father? _

"I want the presents under the tree, Daddy, so I can see how many presents Santa gave me. Have you seen how good I've been?" Lorenzo piped up.

Damon rolled his eyes at his son. "I think Santa might have made a mistake," he mumbled under his breath.

He greeted Elena with a nod as he followed his son's instructions about putting the presents by the tree. Elena was still dumbfounded, and actually felt like shouting out: _"Wait, hold up! What now?!"_ What did this mean? Was Damon married? And where had his son been last night… or his wife for that matter? Maybe he was divorced?

"Okay, I'm going to make us some dinner now. You play with your presents while I'm in the kitchen and remember…"

"Don't touch Daddy's stereo!" both father and son said at the same time. It actually made Elena laugh with how similar these two were to each other. And apparently, Damon's obsession with people touching his things didn't just stop with her. Even his son knew how he was.

"Good," Damon's eyes moved to her just then. "Elena, I already saw him introducing himself to you, but this is my son Lorenzo. Can you watch him for a bit while I'm in the kitchen?" Damon said casually.

Elena's arm shot out to stop him, her speech finally returning to her. "I thought you lived alone here with Stefan? Are you married?"

Damon looked at his son for a second, and seeing that Lorenzo was blissfully preoccupied he told her, "I'm not."

"Okay. Are you D-I-V-O-R-C-E-D?" she spelled out the word, not wanting the child to hear that awful word that she'd been forced to hear ever since she was six.

"W-I-D-O-W-E-R," Damon finally replied after a short silence. Before Elena could make a comment about it, he was already off to the kitchen…

**A/N: Again, thank you all for the awesome response to this story! I'm so happy you like it and I will continue with the quick updates. In case you're worried about my other stories; I will work on them again after this ride is over, which should be in about a week or two. **

**Please hit that review button and give my muse a treat :)**

**Special thanks to Kate (This Is My Escape) for doing all the beta work for me, and to Miss Mollie (everythingbasedonme) for being a pre-reader in all of my ideas for this story. **

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


	4. Chapter 4

_**The Ties That Bind**_

"What, you don't like pickles? What's wrong with you?" Damon questioned as Elena pushed the green vegetables to the side of her plate.

"Yeah, everyone likes pickles!" Lorenzo helped his father.

"This is absolutely delicious, Damon, but pickles have never been my thing. I'm sorry," Elena smiled apologetically. Damon reached over to take the rejected pickles from her plate to stuff them into his mouth. Elena's eyes widened a bit. "You're eating my discarded pickles?"

"It's a waste of a good vegetable," Damon shrugged.

"Daddy, can I have some hot chocolate after this?"

Elena watched as both father and son had already finished their meals. That kid had to be the fastest eater she had ever seen. But then again, his father seemed to be the most skillful cook.

"Sure, buddy. I'll make us some if Miss Gilbert over there is done nitpicking over her food," Damon joked.

Elena put down her fork. "Hey! I just don't like pickles. I didn't realise I had committed a crime here."

Lorenzo giggled at her. "You're funny."

"And you're cute."

"I know," both the Salvatore men said at the same time.

"I was referring to your son, Mr. Salvatore," Elena explained with a shocked look on her face.

Damon leaned back arrogantly. "Please! He still wipes his nose with his sleeve sometimes. We all know you meant me."

Lorenzo crossed his arms and gave his father a mad stare. "Grandma says I'm the prettiest boy and I make all the girls smile!"

"Where do you think you got your looks from, Lorenzo?" Damon shot back at him.

Elena laughed at their antics. Lorenzo was so much like his father, it was frightening. It made her wonder about his mother; the woman Damon had lost. What had she been like?

When Damon had gotten them all some hot chocolate, Lorenzo pouted. "These are not enough marshmallows, Daddy. Look!"

As the little boy leaned over to show his father just what he had done wrong, he tilted the mug a bit, allowing the hot liquid to drizzle onto Damon's shirt.

"Shit!" Damon jumped up, the brown sustenance staining his shirt and burning him in the process.

"You said the 'S' word!" Lorenzo said with wide eyes.

"Yeah, well. It was hot!"

Elena stood up as well. "You need to take off your shirt," she told Damon.

He raised an eyebrow at her, a small corner of his mouth tugging upward. "Eager to get me out of my clothes, Elena?"

Elena rolled her eyes at him. "Not everything is a ploy to get you out of your clothes, Salvatore!"

"Unless you're drunk." Damon wriggled his eyebrows playfully.

"I'm never going to live that one down, am I?"

"Nope."

"Come on. Take off your shirt. I promise not to look," Elena vowed, although she wasn't sure she could live up to that promise.

"Well, you can look a little," Damon said, lifting his shirt over his head, causing the muscles of his pectorals to flex. Elena felt her eyes immediately being drawn to them. Her gaze travelled from his chest to his torso and then back up again, taking in his pebbled nipples. God, why was this man so sculpted?

"Well, this shirt is probably ruined," Damon commented as he stared at the stain on it.

"Sorry, Daddy," Lorenzo whispered.

"It's okay. You didn't do it on purpose. I'm going to go upstairs and get myself a new one. You two can clean up. I want my table spotless when I return."

Elena shook her head in laughter. That man had a knack for keeping things clean.

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE 

Later that evening, Elena was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace playing with Lorenzo. For some reason, her eyes kept drifting towards Damon. She couldn't help it. She had created this whole idea about what Damon Salvatore was all about for the past 36 hours, but now her perfectly created image was falling apart in front of her. Sure, he could still be a growling dick, but now there was a story behind that. He had lost a wife, leaving him to be a single parent. It made her wonder about how he had managed to create two different worlds; one, where he was working a lot and he couldn't be parted with either his bourbon or women, and the other, where he was taking care of a five year old by himself. It baffled her.

Of course, it wasn't her business to know what had happened; to get behind the story of why and how things were the way they were with the Salvatore's. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know. Damon was slowly getting under her skin, and this latest addition wasn't helping matters. Because for all the sarcastic behaviour that he showed, he was startlingly sweet to his son. No, she just had to remind herself that she was leaving in less than 24 hours. Besides, there was no way she was letting a complicated man like Damon Salvatore into her heart!

"Elena, stop with the staring. I know I'm not hard to look at, but I'd like to drink my coffee without someone watching my every sip," Damon said without looking up.

Elena blushed with his comment, feeling embarrassed. She quickly averted her eyes.

"Are you going to come and play with me again, Elena?" Lorenzo interrupted her thoughts about Damon.

"Lorenzo, you know I told you that Elena is here on vacation. She's leaving tomorrow," Damon reminded his son.

"She can come back," Lorenzo shot back.

"She lives in halfway across the country, buddy. It's expensive to buy a plane ticket."

Elena frowned at Damon's answers. He really did want to get rid of her as soon as possible, didn't he?

Lorenzo pouted a bit, before leaning into Elena to whisper something in her ear. "I never get to play with any girls. It's always me and Daddy. And sometimes Uncle Stefan and Uncle Ric. I think Daddy doesn't like girls."

Elena chuckled. Oh, Damon liked girls all right! He just didn't bring them home to meet his son.

"Lorenzo, it's time for bed. Put your toys away," Damon announced suddenly.

"But Daddy!"

"No arguments."

"Can Elena come and see my room, then? I want to show her my tent."

Damon put his coffee mug on the table and stood up stiffly. "I thought you didn't want anyone to see your tent?"

Lorenzo pushed his toys back under the tree. "But Elena is a girl and I like girls! I want her to see my room." The little boy hopped to his feet excitedly, looking up at his father with big, expectant eyes. It warmed Elena's heart. This little man was going to break a lot of hearts when he grew up. She herself was already having a hard time resisting him when he looked at her with those baby blues.

"Fine, she can come up if she wants to. But only for a few minutes," Damon said as he locked eyes with Elena.

Elena smiled and followed them up the stairs towards a room at the very end of the hallway. Lorenzo was skipping excitedly in front of them. When he opened the door to his own little world, Elena was in awe of how absolutely adorable it was decorated.

There was a bed in the centre of the room, shaped like a giant car. Stuffed dinosaurs were strewn all over it. The little boy had no shortage of toys; they were placed in several chests and boxes alongside the wall. The walls itself were painted dark green. It suited one junior Salvatore male.

Sure enough, there was a tent set up in the right corner of the room; it was made out of white sheets that were tied together. Lorenzo immediately ran towards it and slipped inside.

"Aren't you coming?" Elena said when Damon sat down on his child's bed.

He shook his head. "I'm just here to make sure that he gets into bed on time."

Elena frowned at his sudden stiff behaviour, but decided not to comment on it. Instead, she went towards the tent and peeked inside. It seemed like a male hide-out; there were mats on the floor, some toys here and there, and one single light in the centre of it. Lorenzo was sitting in the corner of the tent, smiling at her.

"You have a beautiful tent here, sweetie," Elena told the boy once she was seated inside. "I'll bet you hide out in here often, don't you?"

Lorenzo was beaming.

"I play in here a lot. Sometimes Daddy comes to play with me too."

"He does?"

"Yes, Daddy says nothing can hurt us when we're in here."

Elena felt the words tug at her heartstrings. She felt as if she was intruding on a very private place; something that was shared between father and son.

"I like having a girl here for Christmas," Lorenzo stated.

"Well, Lorenzo, I like being here."

"Daddy likes you here too."

That made Elena chuckle. That was one thing she was sure was not the case.

"He's always sad, but you made him smile," Lorenzo explained.

Silence overtook the room as Elena was left stumped for once. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as she pictured Damon being sad, not knowing that his son knew all about it. She doubted that Damon would deliberately let his grief show towards his child.

"Your Daddy is sad a lot?" she whispered silently.

Lorenzo nodded. "Grandma says that's why I live with her and Grandpa mostly; because Daddy is too sad sometimes. He's not home a lot. I think he likes to hide, like me. He needs a tent too, so nothing can hurt him, just like nothing can hurt me when I'm in here."

Tears sprang into Elena's eyes with this little boy's wise words. He seemed to know his father so well, and for the first time she understood why Damon had made his life the way it was now; He worked a lot to bury the pain. He slept with a lot of women and always tossed them out, so no one could ever get underneath his carefully built up exterior. He liked his bourbon to drown his sorrows… His snarky sarcasm was a defence mechanism…

Elena cleared her throat and blinked back her tears. "I like your tent a lot, Lorenzo. But I think that it's time for bed now. Come one, let's get out and get you in your pyjamas."

When she crawled out, Damon was nowhere to be seen. The place where he had been sitting on the bed was empty. Elena just then realised that he had probably been able to hear everything that was said in that tent.

"Listen, sweetie. Why don't put on your pyjamas and I'll go find your father to kiss you goodnight."

"Okay."

Elena left him in his room to find out where Damon had snuck off too. She didn't have to look very far; he was sitting on the edge of the giant bed in his bedroom. His back was to her and he seemed to be staring at a picture that he was holding. Elena bit her lip and lingered in the doorway for a moment. Her heart ached for this man in a way that was very new to her. He was… layered, which was unlike anything she had ever seen. The men in Hollywood had been very shallow; besides a pretty face, there was nothing to be added.

But Damon… She had a feeling that he would be able to keep everyone on their toes. There was something new and interesting to find with every mood that he was in.

She carefully cleared her throat, so he would know that she was here. His back immediately stiffened.

"Eh, your son wants a kiss goodnight," Elena said softly.

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."

He never turned around and his voice sounded raspy. Elena's heart squeezed in her chest again as she turned around to return to Lorenzo's room. After a few minutes, Damon joined them as well. He was back to his old self, with his playful banter and snide comments. It was as if the past few minutes had never even happened.

"Okay, little man. Lights out. It's been a long day," Damon told his son.

Elena watched from the doorway as Lorenzo snuggled into his pillow and held up his arms, wanting to be hugged.

"Kiss!" he demanded.

Damon chuckled and scooped him up in his arms for a second, kissing his boy's plump cheek. "I love you, Daddy," Lorenzo whispered.

"I love you too. Now go to sleep."

Elena quickly left the room and went downstairs, trying to blink back another set of tears that had pricked her eyes.

Damon came down a few minutes later, as Elena was already curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace.

"I'm going to be in the study for the rest of the night. I still have a lot of work to do," he told her gruffly.

Elena frowned a bit over his working on Christmas Day, but said nothing. He probably needed this right now.

"Sure."

"Don't wait up. I could be in there for a while."

He wasn't kidding when he said it would be a while. She went to bed around midnight and when she woke up around two to go to the bathroom, his bed was still empty. Before she knew what she was doing, she tiptoed downstairs and saw that the door to his study was open. He was on the phone.

"I'm fine, Stefan. I just felt that I needed to spend Christmas with my son in Mystic Falls for a change, instead of taking him and hiding out in some fancy ski lodge. I was going to have to face this sooner or later."

Elena didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she couldn't help but linger.

"Yeah, that's all right. Elena is not that bad. She's actually quite fun when she's drunk," she could hear Damon chuckle.

She scowled at that. He wasn't going to tell on all the things that she did, right?

"No, Elena is leaving tomorrow. I need to spend some time with Lorenzo. But I'm happy about you having such a good time with a woman over there. It was about time you got out there again."

Elena smiled with the thought of Stefan and Caroline having fun together.

"Hey! I always get out there. Women all over Mystic Falls want to get in my bed. It's never empty…. No, I don't want the same woman in my bed twice, where's the fun in that…? Elena? She's hot, sure. Especially when she walks around in that skimpy pyjama top of hers. But no, she's leaving tomorrow and I doubt that she's the one night stand type of girl."

Elena flushed with his words. He had thought about sleeping with her? He was hot as hell, but jumping into bed with him? No, that was probably a very, very bad idea.

"It's not polite to eavesdrop," Damon's voice interrupted her thoughts suddenly.

He was standing right behind her, having already finished the phone call with Stefan. He was glaring down at her, making Elena feel extremely uncomfortable. What made her even more uncomfortable was his attire. His dark jeans were hanging low on his hips and he had unbuttoned his shirt somewhere during the night. His chest was completely exposed to her, yet again. His hair looked as if he had ran his fingers through it several times, making it look as if he had 'sex hair.'

She swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," she said in a squeaky voice. "I didn't mean to. I came downstairs to… I.."

Damon raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you going to get that sentence out anytime soon?" he teased her.

Elena's awkwardness quickly turned to anger. "Okay, there's no need to be a dick!"

"I have every right to be a dick. You eavesdropped on my conversation. I bet you've also heard me talking about your sexy little pyjamas. The ones you're wearing right now; the ones I specifically told you not to wear around me. You don't listen very well, do you?"

His eyes were dark now, making her take a step back involuntarily.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think.."

"You're treading on thin ice here, Miss Gilbert."

Elena took another step back and collided with the wall behind her. She was trapped as Damon zoned in on her. He raised a hand to touch her hair, and curled a brown lock around his finger, tugging on it.

"I doubt that you want to play this game with me. You know what I am all about. If you can't handle that, stop tempting and teasing and get back upstairs before I do something about it," Damon said darkly.

Elena felt as if her feet were cemented into the ground, for she couldn't move an inch. Her throat was insanely dry and her vocabulary seemed to have been thrown right out the window.

Damon frowned at the way she didn't run from him. He had obviously expected her to. His fingers were still holding onto her lock of hair, when suddenly he let go and buried his entire hand in her dark tresses.

Goosebumps broke out on Elena's skin with the way he was massaging her scalp. She bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud.

"If you don't run right now I'm going to take advantage of the situation here, Elena. I can guarantee you that. You have about five seconds before I'm going to push you against this wall and let you feel just what that pyjama top does to me."

Elena's eyes widened, but again, she didn't budge. Her heart was hammering in her chest now and her legs felt like jell-o.

"One..," Damon started counting down.

He took a step closer.

"Two.."

His chest was in close proximity, and Elena raised a hand to lightly trace his abs. She could feel his breath on her face now, making her close her eyes in anticipation. Elena licked her lips, knowing what was coming in just another few seconds.

"To hell with five!" Damon snapped. His lips crashed down on hers in an almost bruising kiss. He did exactly as he promised as he lifted a hand underneath her ass and raised her up against his groin. He was hard as a rock! Elena couldn't hold back the moan as his tongue swiped along hers, sweetly tasting her hot and wet cavern.

Her breasts were smashed against the hard planes of his chest, making her nipples chafe deliciously against it every time they moved a bit.

She felt Damon's hand leave her hair to travel down her back. He circled to the front and grazed the top of her pyjama bottoms with a finger, silently teasing. He let go of her lips for a second to leave small kisses down to where her breasts were confined and straining to be freed. Her nipples were standing up at his attention as he left small pecks around them through the fabric of the top. And just when she thought she couldn't take his teasing anymore, he pulled the top down and took a nipple into his mouth.

"Ah," she moaned.

"Daddy?"

They both looked up startled at the sound of Lorenzo's voice.

"Damn it!" Damon cursed hotly.

Lorenzo hadn't seen them. He was standing at the top of the stairs, looking around in search of his father with still tired eyes.

Damon took a deep breath to control himself and buttoned up his shirt so his erection was covered a bit. "I'm coming, buddy," he finally said.

He gave Elena one last glance, before running up the stairs towards his son…

**A/N: Thank you to all of you who have left reviews, story follows and favourites. I just felt like that needed to be said. Of course, another thank you goes out to my beta Kate (This Is My Escape) and to all those who have encouraged me to continue this story. No worries, it's not over yet. Chapter five is coming very soon!**

**Meanwhile, that review button is waiting to be clicked on ;)**

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


	5. Chapter 5

_**You've Gotten Into My Bloodstream**_

Elena lay awake in bed, still trying to calm her body down after the things Damon had let her feel. Her lips still felt swollen from his kisses, her skin felt tight and there was an ache between her legs that was beyond any sexual craving she had ever felt for anyone. She flopped her head back on her pillow, trying to ignore it. She had to pack early morning, so she needed to sleep. And she certainly shouldn't be thinking about a certain raven-haired man that was in a bed a few feet away from her!

Why was he so sinfully attractive to her? Was it because of his detached attitude, that gave off a hint of a little danger surrounding him? Was it because of the fact that he excited her? Or was it because he seemed to be a wonderful father?

She really shouldn't worry about these things. In less than 8 hours she would be out of here, out the door, never to look back. This short trip would be nothing but a pleasant memory. It would be really stupid to go up to a man, who was obviously broken, and try and feel something with him. He had already stated that he wouldn't think twice about kicking her out first thing in the morning. She couldn't go there, no matter how good it felt to be in his arms.

Turning over in her bed for the millionth time, she stared at the wall in frustration. Why couldn't Damon let her stay for a few more days? They could try and figure out what this thing was between them. They could…

_Give it a rest, Elena. It's not happening, _she told herself sternly.

She turned over on her back and closed her eyes, willing herself to think about sheep. Yes, she needed to count sheep. Sleep would come.

After a dozen sheep later, she felt the bed dip next to her. Startled, she opened her eyes and glanced to her side. Damon had lain down next to her, his hand behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. He looked like a god in the pale moonlight that shone in her room. His chest was bare and he had changed into cargo pants. He looked dead calm for someone who had just crawled on the bed next to her.

Elena swallowed hard.

What was he doing? And why wasn't he saying anything?

She licked her suddenly dry lips and spoke up, trying to clear up this pregnant silence in the room. "Is Lorenzo okay?"

Damon never looked at her, he kept his eyes straight up. "He is. He just had a bad dream and wanted me to scare away the monster under the bed. I just checked on him. He's asleep."

Yet again, silence. It was driving Elena crazy! What was he doing here?

She took a deep breath to calm her sudden pounding heart, something that didn't go unnoticed by Damon, with the way her bosom heaved up and down. For the first time since he had entered the room, he glanced over to her side, his eyes glued to her breasts.

"Why didn't you tell me that your son was coming over yesterday? I liked seeing you as a Dad. You were so different from the gruff man that I met only 42 hours ago," she asked, trying to distract herself from the position she was in.

Damon's eyes drifted back up towards the ceiling. "Because it didn't concern you," was his only answer.

Elena sighed. Trying to figure this man out was giving her a headache! And he had never even told her about what he was doing here. She decided to call him out on it.

"If nothing about you concerns me, then why are you here, Damon?"

There, she had said it. The ball was in his court now.

He remained silent for another moment, until he turned his head her way again. His crystal eyes held her captive as he stared at her. She suddenly felt how his hand brushed against hers, where it was lying on top of the blankets. A bolt of electricity surged through her at just that simple touch. It had been deliberate; she could see it in his eyes. He was testing her.

His eyes still held hers as his thumb was stroking the top of her hand, making goose bumps rise on her skin. Her heart was drumming in her chest in anticipation of what was to come. For the life of her, she couldn't look away from his passionate stare, as his hand was squeezing hers rhythmically now. The ache between her legs returned full force. She had no idea that simple hand holding on top of a bed could get her so excited; excited for this man.

Damon suddenly turned over on his side, still not breaking eye contact. His hand moved upward now, over her arm to where her neck was bare. His finger trailed over her pulse point there for a second, until it dipped down towards her cleavage.

Elena felt her nipples harden immediately as he traced a path over the swell of her breasts; back and forth… back and forth…

"Damon..," she breathed.

Damon pulled her pyjama top down partially, revealing a breast to his eyes.

"I wasn't going to do this, you know," he told her, clenching his jaw to keep himself in check. "I was going to send you off in the morning without knowing what you feel like; how you move underneath me, how you whisper my name in the throes of passion."

His finger was trailing a path around her aureole now, and she bit her lip to keep from groaning out her frustration.

"I'm not relationship material. So if you have any hesitations about this, tell me now. For I'm not going to be able to stop once I get a taste of you. Tell me, Elena," he whispered.

Did he want her to tell him to stop? Well, she wasn't going to do that. Smart or not, she was feeling something incredible for this man, and she wanted to experience what those feelings were before she left.

"I want you, Damon. Do it."

Faster than she could blink, his lips were on her breast, licking around her sensitive nipple, before taking it into his mouth completely. Elena almost came apart at the firs sweet tug of his lips on it, her hands flying to his head to hold him steady. He released the nipple again with a loud pop, trailing his tongue between the valley of her breasts, until he reached the other mound. It endured the same torture, his lips and tongue working their way around her aureole, before finally giving into what she wanted the most.

"I knew these pyjamas would be my undoing," Damon growled.

"Please," Elena begged. She actually felt mortified to be begging so soon in their tryst, but she was powerless to stop it.

"What do you want, baby?"

Hearing him calling her baby was beyond erotic for her. She felt her lower belly clench violently, her body all too aware of the fact that she wanted him to fill her.

"Do you want this?" Damon's voice penetrated her lust-filled mind. His hand slid down her belly and cupped the source of all of her desires.

"Yes!" she hissed.

Cocky Damon was back in full play as he smirked at her, before kissing his way down her body. Elena watched him, while he slowly slid her pyjama bottoms from her legs.

Throwing the offensive garment on the floor, he nibbled his way back up one leg, from her ankle to her inner thigh. He was deliberately avoiding the place where she wanted him to go, taking his time to lave attention to her supple upper legs.

By the time she was squirming underneath him, almost pushing her pelvis up into his face, he finally relented on her. Taking off the final piece that was separating them, he suddenly licked a light path from her entrance to her clit. It almost had her catapulting from the bed.

"Easy," he whispered to her.

He turned all of his attention onto her nether regions, while keeping a hand on her belly to hold her down. It was the hottest thing she had ever experienced. She felt his tongue doing sinful things to her, making her climb up and up, until she felt she might explode. Just then, he took her clit in his mouth and sucked.

Hot lava seemed to replace the blood in her veins as it burst forward and shot to all nerve endings in her body. Her toes curled as the tremors flooded her senses, until nothing else existed besides him and the powerful orgasm he had brought upon her. It seemed never ending, and she was almost sure she blacked out there for a moment.

"Wow," was all that she could say once it was over.

Damon grinned proudly next to her. "I know how to show a woman a good time," he bragged.

Indeed, he did.

"My turn," Elena smiled.

She pushed Damon onto his back, kissing him as they went. His tongue rubbed against hers deliciously as her hands reached down towards the waistband of his cargo pants. He was hard and straining the material. Elena released his lips to concentrate on the task of removing his pants completely. Once she was finished, she admired the view in front of her. No man should ever be this gorgeous!

Hesitantly, she took his member into her hand, squeezing it experimentally. Damon immediately flopped down onto the pillow, his eyes shut in concentration. It spurred her on, knowing that it felt good to him. She leaned forward and gave the head a tentative lick.

"Damn! I don't know what that guy in your past was talking about. You're already better than you think," Damon told her, groaning.

Elena smiled, feeling that hurtful comment from her ex leaving her list of concerns. She returned her attention to Damon's penis, bobbing her head up and down, while occasionally paying attention to the head.

"Okay, enough. I want to be inside of you."

Elena watched as Damon produced a condom from somewhere and put it on. He pushed her back on the bed and seated himself between her legs.

"Are you still sure?" he asked one last time.

Elena smiled up at him, touching her hand to the side of his face before nodding. He slid home a second later, both of them groaning at their union. Their eyes remained locked as Damon began to move. It was incredibly hot to watch every emotion cross his face. With each thrust, Elena could see everything building up inside of him towards that one moment. He clutched one of her hands in his, squeezing it for all he was worth.

He angled his hips differently at one point, and Elena could feel him hitting a place inside of her that had her building towards orgasm all over again. Damon kept his eyes glued to hers, watching it overtake her… overtake the both of them. Finally, she buried her fingernails in his back as she couldn't take it anymore. A soft cry escaped her lips as she came…

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE

"Daddy?"

Elena groaned as a familiar voice roused her from her sleep, but she couldn't quite place it yet. Her body almost felt boneless as she was draped over something warm and hard. She was exhausted.

Her eyelids fluttered as she vaguely took in the sight of a small boy, staring at her with questioning eyes. Her mind still didn't seem to click with what she was seeing yet. The warm and hard surface beneath her stirred as well, making her almost object because her body couldn't move properly yet.

"Daddy? What are you doing in Elena's bed?" the boy quipped.

As the hard surface beneath her bolted upright, she was finally able to connect all the dots; she had slept with Damon. And currently, his son was standing by her bed, wondering why his father wasn't in his own room.

Oh hell!

Elena quickly snatched up the blankets to cover their nudity, while Damon was fumbling for excuses. Luckily for them, Lorenzo already came up with his own conclusion: "Did you have a bad dream like me, Daddy? Sometimes I sleep in Daddy's bed when I'm scared," he clarified for Elena.

Damon cleared his throat, feeling uncomfortable.

"Yes, I had a bad dream. Why don't you go to your room and pick out your clothes for today? I'll be there in a minute to help you," he told his son.

Lorenzo beamed, before turning around and running back towards his room.

"Well, that was close," Elena frowned.

Damon got up and searched for his cargo pants, before putting them on.

"Yeah… Listen…"

Elena's face almost fell as she had a feeling about what he might say. To save herself the embarrassing talk, she chose to do it for him.

"Don't worry, Damon. I know you're not relationship material. What happened last night was a one time thing between two consenting adults. It was great, but we need to get back to reality. I'm leaving today, so I best start packing."

Damon's eyes revealed nothing as she spoke the words. Instead, he gave her a distracted: "Yeah…you're right," before slipping from her room.

So that was it… The end of her vacation. She would go back to Los Angeles in a few hours, realising she had come here to sort out certain feelings, only to realise now that Damon Salvatore had added even more confusing feelings to the mix.

With a heavy heart, she got dressed and took her suitcase out from under the bed.

"E-LE-NAAAA!" Lorenzo yelled out from her doorway in a sing-song voice. "Elena, it has snowed! Let's go and make a huge snowman! Daddy said he has carrots for the nose!"

Elena couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm. "It snowed?"

Lorenzo ran into her room and grabbed her hand, almost dragging her out to where the fun was.

"Lorenzo, sweetie. I have to be packed up and ready for my plane in a few hours. I don't think I have the time to make a large snowman," Elena tried to explain to him.

Lorenzo's pout almost cut straight through her heart. She had a very hard time denying this little boy anything.

"But I do have some time for a very little snowman," she therefore said.

Lorenzo's face brightened up immediately. "Yay! Maybe we can also have a snow fight. Daddy always wins, but if you help me, we can win!"

Elena shook her head, laughing, as she watched the boy race down the stairs towards wherever he wanted to have a snow fight. He had a way of wrapping you around his little finger. He took after his Dad when it came to that…

When she came downstairs, Lorenzo was all set and ready to go. He looked adorable in his winter coat, scarf, mittens and earmuffs. He was bouncing up and down, eager to play in the white world outside.

"We're going to beat you, Daddy!" He gave his father a threatening glare.

Damon was just finishing up putting on a coat himself.

"I doubt it, Lorenzo. A little boy and a girl? I can take you both on with ease," Damon bragged, while he put on some gloves.

Elena came forward to help Lorenzo with talking his father down. "Don't be so quick to say that, Salvatore! I'll have you know that I aim very well. I'll have you flat on your back in no time."

Damon wiggled his eyebrows at that. "Do you, now? I thought it was the other way around just a few hours ago."

Elena's mouth dropped open with his words, before narrowing her eyes at him. "You're going down! Come on, Lorenzo. It's time to teach your father a little lesson."

The world outside was white indeed. They were standing in about a foot of snow, making Elena wonder if it would cause some serious delays at the airport. She was really not looking forward to hanging around for hours.

"Okay, the rules are simple; no aiming for the head. Other than that, anything goes," Damon explained, grabbing a handful of snow and turning it into a ball.

"Oh, so it's okay to do this?" Elena was quick as she reached down for some snow and hurled it at Damon's coat. He looked stumped for a second as it hit him full in the chest. Lorenzo burst into a fit of giggles next to her. "She hit you, Daddy!" he laughed.

Damon growled. "Well, she caught me off guard. It's not going to happen again. Get ready!"

For the next few minutes, they were busy trying to dodge snowballs and tackling each other to the ground. Elena couldn't even remember the last time she had fun like this. Los Angeles didn't have these seasons. Snow was a rare concept to her.

"Look out!" Lorenzo screeched beside her as Damon's snowball came flying through the air towards them. It landed on top of Elena's head.

"Foul play, Salvatore!" she grumbled as the cold sustenance dripped down the locks of her hair.

Damon gave her a smirk. "Maybe. But it's fun to watch as you now look like an ice cream cone."

Elena narrowed her eyes at him, before leaning down to whisper something in Lorenzo's ear. The boy nodded in earnest, his face not revealing anything about what she had just said. They both glared at Damon suddenly, when Elena yelled out: "Charge!"

It all happened so fast, Damon couldn't even take the time to know what hit him. Both his son and Elena swung snowballs his way so fast, he had a hard time catching up. When they reached him, Lorenzo kept on throwing snowballs, while Elena ran into Damon hard, knocking him on his back.

She immediately rolled on top of him, her legs on each side of his body to pin him down to the cold ground. A final snowball rested in her hand, and she hovered it over his face threateningly. Damon blinked up at her in surprise.

"I've got you," Elena told him.

Damon remained serious, raising a hand to brush a cold and wet lock of hair behind her ear. "Yeah, you do," he breathed.

Elena frowned at his expression while he said it, but the moment was over before she had the chance to know what he had meant. He pushed her off of him and stood up, wiping the snow from his coat.

"We beat Daddy! We beat Daddy!" Lorenzo yelled out, jumping up and down.

"Yeah, well. Two against one isn't really fair now, is it?" Damon said grouchily.

"I thought you said it would be easy to take on a little boy and a girl?" Elena reminded him of his earlier words.

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up."

Elena and Lorenzo giggled together as they watched Damon almost stomp back inside.

"We didn't make a snowman yet," Lorenzo said as Elena wanted to follow after him.

Elena checked her watch and realised she really had to start packing now. Her time was up.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. But I have to go soon and my suitcase is still unpacked."

"Why can't you stay here?"

As soon as Lorenzo's bottom lip began to tremble, Elena knelt down and hugged the little boy. "I don't live here, Lorenzo. I live in Los Angeles, which is far away from here. I have to go back to my own house and my friends."

"But you can come back again, right?"

Elena blinked back a few tears that had suddenly begun to prick her eyes. No, she could never come back. It would hurt too much, knowing that Damon didn't want that. He had made himself perfectly clear last night. Besides, feeling what she was feeling now, it wouldn't be smart for her to see him again.

"I don't know, sweetie. We'll see," she finally told the boy.

She held his hand as they walked back inside. Damon was nowhere to be seen; he was probably hiding in his study again. She took the boy upstairs with her, and he helped her pack up her belongings.

When they were done, Elena carried her suitcase downstairs and called a cab to take her to the airport. Damon had re-appeared again, and he was eyeing her seriously.

"Did you get everything?" he asked her.

Elena nodded, not really knowing what to say. There was a lump forming in her throat, and she wasn't sure if she could trust her voice right now.

Lorenzo flung himself at her legs, wrapping his small arms around them. "Please come back soon, Elena," he whispered.

Damon was watching them interact with a blank look on his face, but Elena caught him swallowing something with difficulty. Was this goodbye as hard on him as it was on her and Lorenzo?

Lorenzo released her legs and looked up at her with big, crocodile tears.

"Please don't cry, sweetie. You're going to make me sob here," Elena choked.

A cab horn honked in the distance, indicating that her ride to the airport had arrived. She wiped a stray tear from her cheek, trying to put on a brave face. She could fall apart in the cab, but not right now.

After they had put on their coats, Damon opened the door for her and helped her carry the suitcase to the cab. While the driver put it in the trunk for her, Elena and Damon eyed each other awkwardly.

"I hope you enjoyed your stay here in this small town," Damon mumbled a bit.

"I did. Thank you for letting me stay here after the surprise me and your brother sprung on you. It was beyond generous."

Elena wanted to scowl with how raspy her voice sounded, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to cry.

"Of course," Damon nodded.

The cab driver had gotten into the car and honked his horn, signalling that they needed to wrap things up here. Damon opened the car door for her, helping Elena to get in. She turned around one last time, though, and flung herself at him.

She grabbed onto his coat and mashed their lips together, kissing him as if her life depended on it. Their tongues danced together in desperation, knowing this was the last time they would be connected.

"Goodbye, Damon," Elena whispered brokenly as she released him.

She quickly got into the cab and closed the door, not looking back. Therefore, she missed how Damon ran after the car, trying to get her attention….

**A/N: I know… it was very evil to leave things here. Feel free to leave your displeasure about it in a review. LOL! Don't worry, though. The next chapter isn't far behind. Will Damon go after her?**

**A big hug and thank you to inspiration points Yolanda (0123Hope), Mollie (everythingbasedonlove), Kate (This Is My Escape) and Jen (Angel's Blue Eyed Girl)**

**And thank you to all readers and reviewers, of course! **

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


	6. Chapter 6

_**Planes, Snow and Camaro's**_

The airport was bustling with activity as Elena pushed her way through the crowds with her heavy suitcase. From the moment she had set foot in this place, she knew that the snow had caused problems. People were cranky, barking at the staff, checking their watches and looking up at the departure sign with a frown on their face. It certainly didn't bode well for Elena's airplane, and she checked the departure sign herself.

Delayed.

Great! Now she had to spend hours in a frantic place, while she was already feeling like crap. Her entire body felt tired because of the heavy sobbing she had done in the cab. There had been so many times where she had wanted to tell the driver to turn the car around and go back to the Salvatore Boarding House. But Damon's words to his son last night kept playing over and over in her head; he wanted her back in Los Angeles and far away from him.

God, he was so scared to feel anything! He had built up so many walls around him, not even a hurricane could blast its way through it! Well, it was time to forget about him, no matter how hard it was.

She stepped forward to one of the people behind the help desk, wanting to know just how long she would have to spend moping around this place.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But there is a huge snowstorm hovering over Virginia. It might be a few hours before your plane can take off."

Elena sighed, before thanking the blonde who had provided her with this terrible information. She slumped her shoulders en dragged herself over towards one of the bathrooms, hauling the suitcase behind her. As soon as she reached a mirror, she looked up to find puffy and red-rimmed eyes staring back at her.

The irony was not lost on her, as she thought back on how she had wanted to come to this small town to get away from all the heartache back home. How she had basically wanted to steer clear of any male company. And now she was going back with just that; heartache over a man.

She scowled at herself in the mirror, before reaching into her inner pocket to search for more tissues. Her fingers brushed up against something cold and hard, making her frown. _What was that? _As she pulled it out, her eyes widened.

The key to the front door of Stefan and Damon's house. She had forgotten all about having it. Well, she would just have to return it to Stefan once she got back to her apartment. _Or maybe she could turn back to the Boarding House and hand it back over to Damon… _

She immediately chastised herself for the thought. No going back to Damon!

Straightening her shoulders, she stepped back out of the bathroom and searched for an empty seat to spend the next few hours in. She picked one near a window and stared out into the grey, snowy skies.

A few minutes later, a young woman plopped down next to her onto a seat and began sniffling. Elena tried to ignore her, seeing as she was already feeling rotten herself, but in the end she reached for a tissue and handed it to her.

"Thank you," the woman said appreciatively.

"You're welcome," Elena smiled, "Are you okay?"

The woman blew her nose loudly. "Not really. I just had to say goodbye to my boyfriend."

Elena swallowed something.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, well. It's for a good cause. I landed a job in Europe. He's coming over to visit me in 3 months, though. Still, we've never been apart for more than a day or two."

The woman dried her eyes and looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry. I wasn't planning on telling you my life story here. I'm just sad, cranky and bored. My plane is not taking off for at least a few more hours."

"Don't worry about it," Elena told her. "Same story here. I've said goodbye to a man and here I am, sitting in a crowded airport on Boxing Day with puffy eyes."

The woman turned her way with interest. "Really? What a coincidence that I threw myself onto the seat next to yours then. Where are you going, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Back home to Los Angeles."

"You live in Los Angeles? Wow, I've always wanted to go there! It must be awesome, with the warm climate and the ocean and all," the woman said dreamily.

Elena snickered. "Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be. I came here to get away from it all, it's a tiresome city."

The woman nodded absentmindedly at her answer, her thoughts probably already on her boyfriend again. She remained quiet for a few minutes, before turning Elena's way again.

"So your man is from Virginia then? Sorry if I'm pushing it here. You don't have to answer, but I'm just a sucker for love stories."

Elena picked at her coat. "He's not really my man," she said meekly. "It's… complicated."

The woman laughed. "Somehow, love stories in Virginia are always complicated. You don't even want to know how I hooked up with Ric, my boyfriend. Anyway, if we're going to be sitting here for a few more hours, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Jenna."

Elena shook her hand, smiling. "I'm Elena."

"Well, Elena. I'm not going to pry for the complicated details here. But I hope things work out for you. There is no better feeling in the world than loving someone and knowing that they love you back equally."

Silence filled up the air between them as Elena bit her lip. Jenna came to her conclusions next to her. "You never got to that part, did you? I'm sorry, Elena. I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay. I doubt we'll ever be getting to that part anyway. I came to Virginia to clear my head. Then I met him and he fogged up my already cloudy mind even more. He's the most infuriating, confusing man I have ever met and I…"

"You love him," Jenna finished for her. "Have you at least told him this?"

Elena blinked back the tears in her eyes as she shook her head.

"So you're telling me that you just said goodbye to the man you love without telling him that you love him?" Jenna asked incredulously.

"We'll probably never see each other again as well," Elena informed her.

Jenna's mouth dropped open.

"Then what are you doing sitting around an overstuffed airport with severely delayed planes for?! Go back and tell him how you feel!" She almost yelled out.

"You don't know this man, Jenna. I doubt that he'll want to know. He's closed up and ignorant when it comes to human emotions. Besides, he didn't try very hard to come after me. Do we see him around here? No. I'm not getting my heart stomped on."

"Men are dense, Elena. We practically have to spell things out for them. He probably never even knew that you love him. Are you taking a risk by going back and telling him? Yes, but if you don't, you'll always wonder what could have been. If he turns you down, at least you'll know that you have tried everything in the book. Sorry, shutting up now. It's none of my business, of course," Jenna said, her eyes widening with embarrassment with how passionate she had given Elena her opinion.

Elena thought about it for a second. Jenna was right. She had to try and make Damon see that she was serious about her feelings. If he still turned her away after that, she would have at least fought for him. Right now, she wasn't doing anything.

"You know what? I think I'm going back," she suddenly spoke up. She straightened her shoulders, got up from her seat and whipped her hair back.

Jenna's eyes brightened. "You are?"

"I am. Thank you for the company. I hope you have a safe trip to Europe."

As Elena made her way towards the exit of the airport, Jenna yelled after her: "Go get him, Elena!"

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE 

The gravel crunched underneath her feat as Elena ran up towards the Boarding House, her heart drumming in her chest at the prospect of seeing Damon again. She was wracked with nerves about how he would react. Would he welcome her back with open arms? Would he kiss her and sweep her off her feet? Or would he growl at her like he always did and send her off? Reaching into her inner pocket with shaking hands, she fished out the key to the front door, opening it.

"Damon?" she immediately called out once she was inside. "Damon, are you here?"

She ran from the living room to the kitchen, but he was nowhere to be seen. Finally, she barrelled up the stairs towards the bedrooms. Her heart sank in her chest as she realised both Damon's and Lorenzo's room were empty.

They had left.

Pouting, she went downstairs again and sank down on the couch. Well, Damon did say he wanted to spend time with Lorenzo today. They had probably gone off somewhere together.

Once again, she was struck by the sadness of knowing that Damon hadn't come after her. Maybe she had made a mistake by coming back here. Maybe she should just go back to the airport and forget about this stupid plan. This was obviously a love story that didn't have a happy ending. She should get out of here, before she made a giant fool of herself.

Just as she was getting up from the couch, the front door opened, freezing her to the spot.

"But Daddy! I know that it was busy there, but there were so many planes that didn't fly! Elena is still here, I know it! We have to look harder. We have to go back!" Lorenzo screamed at his father, obviously throwing a tantrum.

"We tried, Lorenzo," Damon replied in a tired voice. "I looked everywhere. She wasn't there."

Elena saw how Lorenzo was pulling on Damon's hand, trying to get him to move back into the direction of the front door. "Yes, she is there! I don't want her to go! I want to go back! I WANT TO GO BACK!"

Tears pricked Elena's eyes as she watched the little boy fight his father to get to her. So they had indeed looked for her? They were at the airport? Damon had wanted her to come back?

"Lorenzo, please!" Damon pleaded with his son.

Elena couldn't stand to watch it any longer and cleared her throat, letting both of the Salvatore's know that she hadn't left, but was standing in their living room instead. Two dark heads whipped around towards the sound that she had made. Elena held her breath for their reactions.

"ELENAAAA!" Lorenzo yelled out in happiness. He let go of his father's hand instantly, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, before finally throwing his small body against her. His arms reached around her legs, clinging to her for dear life.

"You're back!" he stated, before looking up at her with a smile on his face. His cheeks were still red from the tantrum he had thrown moments ago. Hot tracks were running down them and his blue eyes were glistening with tears. The sight broke Elena's heart, knowing that she was the cause for that.

Elena reached down to stroke the dark tresses of his hair. "I am," she told him.

"Are you staying? I want you to stay!"

Salvatore Junior was obviously more vocal about what he wanted than his father, who was still standing frozen to the spot. His eyes revealed nothing, as usual, so Elena didn't really know how to answer Lorenzo. Was she staying? It was all up to his father.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Damon cleared his throat.

"Lorenzo, I want you to go upstairs. Now."

The tone of his voice made Elena want to run towards the front door. He seemed…intense, not breaking eye contact with her for a moment as he addressed his son. Was he mad?

"But Daddy, Elena is here!" Lorenzo whined, not budging.

"Lorenzo, do as I tell you. Go upstairs and play with your toys. Stay there until I come and get you."

Elena swallowed hard as Damon's heated gaze remained locked onto hers, making her insides quiver and her knees almost buckle.

"Now, Lorenzo!"

Lorenzo released Elena reluctantly and shot his father a mad glare, before stomping all the way up the stairs. Elena flinched as she heard the younger Salvatore male slam his door shut with a bang. As soon as they had both heard the loud noise, Damon moved himself into action. He walked over towards her with big strides, making Elena want to back up, which she did. Her back collided with the mantelpiece behind her as Damon zoned in on her.

He shot his hand out and reached for her waist, sliding his arm around her and pulling her up against him roughly. Before Elena even had a chance to react, Damon crashed his lips into hers, kissing her hungrily.

The kiss was explosive, as if they were pouring all of their pent up feelings and frustrations over their separation into it. Damon's tongue dominated Elena's, swirling into her mouth in desperation. One of his hands reached up underneath her upper leg, causing her to automatically lift it and wrap it around his waist. A soft moan escaped her lips as the move made her come in contact with his erection, hidden behind the material of his pants.

After what seemed like hours, they finally released each other to come up for air.

"Damn," Damon breathed, running a hand through his hair.

Elena smiled up at him. 'Damn' was right! She raised her hand to touch his face, making sure to keep his gaze locked onto hers for what she was about to say.

"I came back for you," she whispered. "I came back, because there was something that I haven't told you yet; something you need to hear before I get on that plane to Los Angeles."

This was it, the moment of truth. She took a deep breath, before continuing. "When we saw each other for the first time only 48 hours ago, I thought you were the crankiest and most annoying man that I had ever met. You barked at me, made fun of me and ordered me around. Damon Salvatore, you can be a downright pain in the ass! But… I'm in love with you. I'm in love with everything you are. You are a wonderful father to that angry little boy upstairs, you are generous to a stranger you find in your bed and I just… I love you. Look, I know you said that you aren't relationship material and yes, this thing between us is probably complicated as hell with you living in Virginia and me living in California. Not to mention that we are both damaged goods. But I think that we could be great together, if you could give us a chance. And…"

"Would you shut up for a second so I can get my two cents in?" Damon interrupted her.

Elena's mouth snapped shut, and she paled a bit at the realisation that she had rambled her way through her love confession. She held her breath with what Damon would say.

"This is probably a mistake," he started.

Elena's face fell immediately with his words. Damn, was he sending her away after all this?

"You're right, I'm a dick. And you're probably better off without me. But when you left earlier, when I let you walk out that door, I realised that it was too late to keep you out. For some reason, you've managed to get under both mine and my son's skin. During a time that is very difficult for me, which is why I wanted you gone initially, you managed to make me feel something other than sadness. You see, three years ago on Christmas Day, my wife died because a drunk driver slammed into her car. She was killed instantly and I haven't wanted anything to do with this time of year ever since. I work too much, I sleep around too much and I make my son live with my late wife's parents a lot of the time because I just can't deal with things sometimes. I'm not an easy man to be around, Elena. So I'm giving you your last out here. If this is too much for you… if you want to go, just go."

"What if I don't want to go?" Elena whispered, tears pricking her eyes with his speech. "What if I want to be with you? I think that I just stated that I know how difficult and frustrating you can be, and yet I still love that and everything else about you. I need to know… What do you feel for me, Damon? I want to hear you say it, I need it."

Damon turned away from her, running his hands through his hair for the umpteenth time that afternoon. Elena smiled with the knowledge that she had just discovered a first habit of his. He paced a bit, before eyeing her seriously again.

"I think I fell in love with you from the moment I became aware of the fact that you had driven my Camaro, and yet my baby was spotless."

Elena cracked up with his words. "Seriously, Damon! Not the Camaro again!"

Damon scowled at her.

"Hey! I'll have you know that I took my baby out and drove her to the airport to make a statement to you!"

"No!" Elena gasped. "You took the Camaro out in this weather? My god, she must have gotten so dirty!"

"She did! Which is my point exactly, Elena. My Camaro is sacred; no woman is ever allowed near her. And yet I drove the car towards the airport to come and pick you up in it. Now, what does that tell you?" Damon smirked.

A huge grin erupted on Elena's face, and she hurled herself into Damon's arms.

"You love me!" she squealed.

Damon squeezed her tight against his chest, burying his nose in her hair.

"I do," he whispered.

"Daddy?" a small voice interrupted them. Lorenzo was standing right behind them, staring at them with big eyes. His bottom lip trembled a bit. "Can I come back downstairs again? I'll listen to you better next time."

Both Damon and Elena looked up, not letting go of each other.

"Yes, you can come back down. I'm sorry I was so hard on you, I just needed to talk to Elena first," Damon told his son.

Lorenzo's face erupted into a huge grin, and he came running towards them, wrapping his arms around them both.

"So is Elena staying?" he repeated his earlier question.

Damon looked from his son to Elena and back again.

"Yeah, she's staying…."

**A/N: So this is it, the end of the line. But not before I give you a nice, sexy little epilogue. I promised Miss Mollie that I would ;) Thank you all for taking this journey with me, and for leaving me with your thoughts. I very much appreciate it. Now be nice to me some more and click that little button below :)**

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


	7. Chapter 7

_**Into the Deep**_

Elena slowly opened her eyes, blinking as she noticed it was still semi-dark outside. The world was quiet, and not even the anxious pitter-patter of feet from a certain birthday boy could be heard. It surprised her, since she had heard him rummaging around his bedroom until at least one in the morning, too excited to sleep. Elena smiled to herself as she realised she still had some time left to cuddle up to the man next to her.

She turned over and saw Damon was out cold, his incredibly long eyelashes resting on his cheeks, hiding those beautiful blue eyes from her. She watched as he breathed deeply and evenly, looking as if he didn't have a care in the word and nothing could hurt him. He was so innocent in his sleep.

Elena ran a hand through his thick, dark hair and enjoyed the texture of it slipping through her fingers.

A year had passed since Damon had first spotted her lying in his bed; a whole year where they had tried to make it work between them. They had both realised how fast things had happened between them and had been taking it slow since that day when she had come running back from the airport. She even went back to her apartment in Los Angeles in the beginning of their relationship and tried doing the long distance thing with him. It had failed miserably, of course. One of the main reasons was that Lorenzo threw a fit every time Elena left them. It broke her heart when she had to get back on the plane to Los Angeles again, or when she had to drive Damon and Lorenzo to LAX after they had come to visit her, and she had to leave him screaming and crying.

Quickly growing annoyed with the arrangement, and two months into their relationship, they discussed what to do. The way they saw it, they had two options; one was breaking up, the second was moving in together. To say that Damon was scared about the second option was an understatement. Elena understood that; here was a man who had lost his wife, had spent his life on the road for his business ever since and never had a woman in his bed for more than a night or two. It was a bet for him that they had talked about thoroughly. What if they didn't work out? What if Lorenzo got so used to having her around as a mother figure that, if she and his father would break things off, it would leave some damage on him? _"He already lost a mother. I don't want to give him another mother figure, only for circumstance to take her away again,"_ had been Damon's exact words. Things had been complicated, but they quickly realised that option number one, breaking up, wasn't an option for them at all, no matter how scary option number two was.

So they took the plunge; three months into their relationship, she gave up her apartment in Los Angeles and told her agent that she was leaving town. Elena had zero regrets; that life wasn't for her anymore anyway. Hollywood was a closed book, and even though her mother still liked to hang around there and was upset with her daughter for throwing her "Hollywood life" away, Elena had made her decision. She moved out of Los Angeles and into Mystic Falls, and into the Salvatore Boarding House.

And now, she and Damon were doing well. Elena had taken a job at the local newspaper, basically as a gopher for its employees. She was dreaming about one day writing for the paper herself, though, and in about a month or two she would be going back to school to study journalism. Damon was still working at Salvatore Inc., but he had cut back his hours vastly. He wanted to be at home more often and he wanted to be a father to his son, for him to be able to live with him instead of his grandparents. They understood Damon's need to be there more for his son. They still babysat of course, and spoiled their grandson rotten.

Elena smiled with her musings on how they had made their life work together.

"Would you stop staring? Your burning eyes could be felt all the way in my dream, and I was having a good one!" Damon complained, one eye cracked open to glare at her.

"You are one to talk, Salvatore! Isn't this exactly how we met, with you staring at me from across the room until I woke up?"

Damon had his eyes closed again and sighed. "I wasn't staring, I was glaring. There's a difference," he explained. "I wanted you to get out of my bed."

"Funny," Elena deadpanned.

"Why is that funny?"

"Because these days, you seem more interested in getting me into your bed, rather than out of it." Elena emphasised her point by taking her index finger and dragging it slowly over the skin of his chest.

"Hmm," Damon let out gruffly.

Elena's finger trailed even lower, stopping at the waistband of his boxers. She crawled even closer to him and put her leg between his, causing the skin of her thigh to softly caress his crotch. This caused Damon to open his eyes completely.

"Are you trying to seduce me, Gilbert?"

"Is it working?" Elena breathed against his throat. She felt his Adam's apple bob up and down, making her smirk. Oh, it was working all right…

"You do realise that it's only six in the morning, right? I'm still very, very tired," Damon teased her right back. He turned over on his back and shut his eyes, trying to make her believe that he was going back to sleep.

Elena was having none of it, though. She slipped underneath the covers and crawled up his body, giving his chest baby kisses. Meanwhile, her hands wandered down and began to softly stroke his thighs. Damon still played dead, so she upped her game a little more. She kissed her way down to his boxers, stopping a moment, before teasingly giving his still clothed cock a peck. It twitched eagerly, betraying how Damon wasn't uninterested at all.

Her hands were still stroking up and down his thighs, her nails scraping over his skin. She noticed how he got goose bumps and she smirked proudly. Any minute now, and he would be putty in her hands…

"Daddy! Elena! It's my birthday!" an eager voice could be heard from the doorway.

"Ugh! That kid is not good for my sex life," Damon groaned softly above Elena.

Lorenzo pounced on the bed, jumping up and down in his pyjamas. How someone could be so vibrant early in the morning was beyond Elena. She quickly got back to her own side of the bed and peaked up at the bouncing child.

"Lorenzo! What did I tell you about jumping on the bed?" Damon glared at his son. Lorenzo immediately sat down and crawled up to his father, burying himself in his arms. "Sorry, Daddy. I just want my presents," he breathed into Damon's neck.

The sight warmed Elena's heart. This was how things should be, with Lorenzo living with his father and Damon being able to spend more time with him.

"I will make breakfast downstairs in a minute. After that, you can have your presents," Damon promised.

"Yay!"

"Why don't you go and wake Uncle Stefan up. He needs some breakfast as well."

Lorenzo sped from the room, already on his way to bestow the same morning greeting on his Uncle.

"That was a little mean of you, Salvatore. You know that both Stefan and Caroline are not morning people. You'll have to face their wrath all day long, you do know that, right?" Elena told Damon.

Damon rolled over on top of her and smirked. "I know. I just love to torment my brother endlessly. Well, that, and I wanted my son to leave the room for a minute."

His mouth closed over Elena's before she had a chance to reply. His tongue massaged hers, until she felt her stomach flutter with the tell tale signs of her arousal.

"This would be so much more fun if we were naked," Damon whined.

Elena pushed him off of her. "We don't have the time for this. Lorenzo could be back in here any minute now."

Damon sighed and slipped from the bed, before throwing on a shirt and some cargo pants.

"You're right. Besides, this probably wouldn't be that hot with the smell of your morning breath and all," he winked teasingly at her.

Elena's mouth dropped open with his words. She fumbled around for a pillow behind her and threw it at him as hard as she could. Sadly, it missed him, as he had already rushed from the room….

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DE

"Lego's!" Lorenzo said with a grin, as he tore at the wrappings from his present.

"Well, I know how you love to build things, little man," Stefan told his nephew.

Lorenzo didn't answer, already lost in the new toys he had gotten. It had been a great morning. After Caroline had bitched at Damon about teaching his son some manners in waking people up, they had all sat down for breakfast and enjoyed the tale of Stefan and Caroline's adventures in Los Angeles.

As it turned out, this exchange had turned into much more than just an exchange for the Holiday. It had turned everyone's life around. Elena was now living here in Mystic Falls permanently, while Stefan had moved in with Caroline in Los Angeles. Apparently, he had made the exchange a year ago, because he was questioning his life in Mystic Falls. He had felt terribly guilty about wanting more, especially after his brother had lost his wife and was not doing so well emotionally. But it just wasn't working out for him anymore; his work at Salvatore Inc., Mystic Falls… The exchange had introduced him to the artist life in Los Angeles and Caroline. After that, he was hooked and knew that his life in Virginia was over. He had recently opened up a shop in Venice Beach, selling his paintings, pictures and sketches.

Of course, with every special occasion, Stefan and Caroline came back and stayed over. Now that Stefan could see with his own eyes how good things were going for his brother and Elena, he didn't feel so guilty about quitting his job and moving away anymore.

"That was the last present, Lorenzo," Damon announced.

"Actually," Caroline spoke up, clearing her throat. "I have one last present. But it isn't just for you, Lorenzo. It's a surprise for everyone."

Lorenzo looked at Caroline with big eyes, expecting something wrapped to come out of hiding.

Caroline looked at Stefan nervously, reaching for his hand. "I uh… This is not something expected or planned. It just sort of happened, but I... we're very happy about it. Lorenzo, how would you feel about getting a cousin to play with?"

Lorenzo blinked, not getting the message yet. "A cousin?" he questioned.

"Oh my God!" Elena screeched. "Oh my God! You're having a baby?"

Both Damon and Lorenzo's head whipped around towards her, before looking back at Stefan and Caroline again.

"Yes, I'm pregnant!" Caroline cried out happily.

Elena hugged her fiercely, ecstatic for her friend. Damon clapped his brother on his back. "Well done, bro," he smirked.

Lorenzo stepped forward quietly. "You're gonna be a Daddy?" he asked, looking at Stefan.

Stefan nodded proudly. "I am."

Lorenzo's eyes drifted towards Caroline. "And you're going to be my cousin's Mommy?"

"Yeah," Caroline trailed off, seeing that something was obviously bugging Lorenzo.

"Lorenzo?" Damon questioned worriedly.

His son suddenly whirled around and stomped up the stairs, rushing off towards his bedroom. Damon immediately wanted to run after him, before Elena stopped him.

"Do you mind if I go after him? I think I know what's wrong," Elena said, her heart already breaking a bit.

Damon eyed her hesitantly. "Sure," he mumbled.

Elena followed Lorenzo's earlier path and stopped at his closed bedroom door. His heart wrenching sobs could be heard through the wooden panelling, piercing right through Elena's very core. God, she loved that little boy so much!

Quietly, she opened the door and slipped inside. Lorenzo had thrown himself onto the bed and his little body was heaving with his incessant crying. Elena sat down next to him on the bed and put a hand on his back.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" she whispered.

The little boy sat up and threw his pillow at the door angrily, tears running down his cheeks. "This is the worst birthday ever!" he yelled.

"Why is that?"

"I hate my new cousin!"

Elena wiped at Lorenzo's tears with her thumb and stroked his heated skin. "Come on, sweetie. Stefan and Caroline's baby hasn't even been born yet. It hasn't done anything wrong."

"Yes, it has! This is _my_ birthday and that stupid baby got something that I want!"

Elena swallowed hard, knowing that Lorenzo's next words would probably bring on the tears.

"What do you want?"

"I want a Mommy! My cousin has a Mommy and I don't," the boy wailed.

"Yes, you do," Damon's deep voice suddenly spoke up behind them. He walked up to his son with strong and sure steps and collected him in his arms. "You have a Mommy. You'll always have a Mommy. You know where she is, right?"

Elena wiped at her tears, unable to stop them.

"Yes," Lorenzo pouted. "She's a star up in the sky."

"Exactly. She's up there and she's looking down at you. I'm sure she is very proud of the boy you are. She'll always watch over you, Lorenzo."

Lorenzo looked down at his little hands, his bottom lip quivering with held back sobs.

"But I want to talk to her," he whispered.

"You can talk to her. You know where we do that. I can take you there anytime you want," Damon promised.

The little boy nodded and looked up at Elena.

"Sometimes, the boys at my school ask me where my Mommy is. They don't believe me when I say she's a star in the sky. When you came to pick me up from school one time, they saw you and I said that you're my Mommy. Can I call you Mommy? You live with my Daddy and you help me with school sometimes. That's what Mommies do, right? Can I, Elena? Can I call you Mommy?"

Silence overtook the room as Elena was completely baffled with Lorenzo's request. She eyed Damon carefully, not sure how he felt about all of this. He was about as still as a statue, not looking her directly into her eyes. She could imagine how it was hard on him. He probably didn't want this.

"Sweetie..," she began to say.

"It's okay," Damon interrupted her. "If you want to call Elena 'Mommy', that's okay."

Elena raised her eyebrows at him in surprise.

"Just remember that you also have another Mommy."

Lorenzo left his father's arms to crawl into Elena's. He buried his face in her neck and wrapped his small arms around her, sighing. "I kind of have two Mommies, then. My real Mommy and you. This birthday is getting better now. My new cousin doesn't have two Mommies. I do!" he said cheekily.

Both Damon and Elena laughed at this.

Lorenzo leaned back suddenly, looking Elena dead in the eye. "Mommies and Daddies have babies, don't they? Can't you and Daddy have a baby? That would be cool! I want a brother to play with! I guess a sister is okay too."

"Whoa! Slow down there, buddy. One thing at a time," Damon told his son.

"Okay," Lorenzo nodded earnestly. "Not now, then. Later…"

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DE

Elena relaxed underneath the spray of water from the rain shower, the hot water washing away the eventful morning. Lorenzo was currently downstairs, playing with his Uncle and Caroline. The prospect of having a cousin was now better for him, knowing that he was still the bigger child and that he had the same things as the new baby did. She would have to get used to being called 'Mommy', though. But the idea of that little boy thinking of her like that warmed her heart.

She closed her eyes, running her fingers through her soapy hair.

All of a sudden, a warm chest was being pressed to her back and two strong arms encircled her waist.

"Hmm, I knew there was a reason why I picked a see through shower stall," Damon whispered in her ear. Apparently, the vision of her in his shower had been enough to catch his lustful attention, since his member was already pressing against her ass cheeks.

Elena leaned her head back against his chest, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Do you think it's wise to do this now, with your son's timing and all?"

Damon chuckled, kissing the pulse point of her neck, making her shiver underneath the hot spray.

"I made a deal with Stefan. He'll keep him entertained for at least an hour."

Elena's eyes opened wide. "Do you mean that you actually told your brother to keep your son busy, so you could come up here to have sex with me?"

Damon nibbled on her earlobe, trying to distract her.

"My brother may be a bit dense, but not _that_ dense, Elena. I didn't tell him, but he can put two and two together. As soon as I asked him to play with my son so I could go upstairs to clean up, he smirked at me. He knows, and I don't give a flying fuck!"

"It just feels weird that he knows what we're doing up here."

"What do you think he and Caroline were doing in his old room last night? Let go, Elena. We now only have 50 minutes left until Lorenzo is released from his Uncle's clutches."

As soon as Damon finger's teasingly danced across her sex, all thoughts flew from her mind. She let him spread her legs open for better access. He used that access instantly, tickling her clit while he kissed her shoulder.

"Turn around," he whispered to her.

Elena complied, facing him completely. He looked jaw-dropping beautiful as usual. Water was trickling down his chest, the drops rolling over his skin until they reached the place where he was proudly showing his desire for her. Her eyes drifted back up to his face. The way he was staring at her was intense, and her stomach squeezed in lust.

Damon grabbed hold of her hand, placing it on his chest. He kept his hand on hers as he slid a path down, keeping his eyes on hers. It was sinfully hot, knowing that he was guiding her hand to where he wanted her, where he needed her to be. When they finally reached his erection and she wrapped her hand around him, he hissed.

Carefully, she began to pump him, feeling him grow even harder in her hand. She flicked her thumb over the head, earning a moan from Damon. Feeling proud for reducing him to this, she leaned forward and began to nip at his chest, keeping her hand busy on his member. She licked at his wet skin and nibbled on his nipples, until Damon pushed her away.

He backed her up underneath the spray and kissed her with such intensity, Elena felt her knees might buckle. Their tongues mingled deliciously as Damon's fingers went back down to her centre to prepare her for him. She mewled as he dipped a finger inside, thrusting it in and out slowly. The palm of his hand was pressed up against her clit, and with every thrust of his finger, he applied pressure to it, building her up higher and higher.

"Oh, Damon," she whispered, feeling her inner walls tighten around his finger. She needed more. She wanted him to bury himself inside of her. She needed him to claim her with his cock, as she squeezed around his girth for all she was worth. The image alone almost had her coming.

Damon turned her back around again, so she was facing the see through shower stall. Whoever came in now would get an eyeful of them.

"Put your hands against the shower stall," Damon breathed into her ear.

Elena complied eagerly.

"Good girl. Now spread your legs."

Elena's heart was hammering in her chest now with how aroused and ready she was. She could feel Damon behind her; he was teasing her, running his penis up and down her slit. Then, without warning, he pushed forward, all the way to the hilt. Elena let out a guttural moan.

"Damn, you feel good!" Damon rasped.

He put his hands on her hips and began thrusting slowly, allowing her to feel him slide against her inner walls at an excruciating slow pace. She grit her teeth, keeping herself from howling out her frustration.

"Please, Damon. Faster!" she begged.

Damon chuckled. "Patience."

He had her teetering on the brink with his pace; never quite speeding up and yet making sure he hit all the right spots. If she could just get him to hit those spots a little faster… Damon angled his thrusts inside of her a bit differently now, causing her eyes to widen with surprise with how good it felt.

"Right there!" she couldn't help but scream. "Right there!"

Finally, Damon sped up, hitting the right places over and over again. She went over the edge with a loud moan, squeezing him tightly. Damon wasn't far behind. He thrust hard once… twice… and then he came as well.

"Hmm, we're getting so good at this," he drawled once the highs of their orgasm started to wear off.

"Practice makes perfect," Elena agreed.

Damon slipped out of her and quickly grabbed onto the shampoo.

"Let's hurry before Stefan can't handle my son anymore. Besides, Ric and Jenna are coming over to give him a present soon."

"Right."

As it turned out early on in their relationship, the 'Uncle Ric' Lorenzo had been talking about once, was none other than the boyfriend Jenna had talked about at the airport with her. Virginia really was a small world. Jenna no longer lived in Europe. She had realised she couldn't be without Ric for too long, and she decided to move back and take a position at Damon's company. This worked out perfectly, since Stefan's place still needed to be filled at that time. Ric and Jenna were now married and living a couple of blocks away from them.

"Oh, Elena? When Lorenzo's birthday party is over, I want to take you somewhere. Our conversation with my son made me think about something. I think it's time that we do this," Damon suddenly said.

Elena frowned, curious about what he meant.

"Sure…."

DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDEDE DE

Lorenzo was holding onto Elena's hand, as they followed Damon down a path. The sun was beginning to set behind the trees, giving this place a melancholic glow. The air around them was calm, quiet and peaceful.

"We're here," Damon whispered.

Elena watched as his face tightened a bit, before looking down at the headstone in front of her. It read:

Rose Salvatore

1981-2009

Beloved wife

Devoted mother

"Hello Mommy," Lorenzo smiled as he sat down in the grass in front of the headstone. "Guess what? It's my birthday today. I got all these cool presents; I got Lego's and a train track. Oh yeah, and I'm getting a new cousin! Uncle Stefan is having a baby with Caroline!"

It was adorable to see that little boy rambling on about his day.

Damon cleared his throat and looked from Elena to the headstone.

"Rose, this is Elena. I uh.. I wanted to bring her here to you. She's been great with our son and… she made me see that even though you will always be in my heart, I needed to pick myself up and be there for Lorenzo. He's not living with your parents anymore. He's with me full time and he's such a great kid. I wish you were here to see that."

Elena remained silent as she let Damon say his piece. She only held onto his hand to show her support.

"I want Elena to be a part of our lives. Before she came along, I was going about things all wrong. I was so bitter about how you were taken from us. Right now, I see that I need to remember you and the joy that you brought. I can't remember you in anger and bitterness. It's not good for me and it's not good for our son. I hope you're okay with all this. Lorenzo will always know what a great mother you were. No one can replace you, but.."

"I now have two Mommies!" Lorenzo piped up, throwing in his two cents. "I love you, Mommy, and I love Elena too. You can be my Mommy up in the sky and Elena can be my Mommy here."

Tears were rolling down Elena's cheeks as she watched the two Salvatore men express their thoughts and feelings to this person who must have been an extraordinary woman.

"Exactly," Damon breathed, agreeing with his son. "I now have two amazing women in my life. One who gave me the world and my son, the other who gave me my life back when my whole world fell apart. I love you, Rose. Like I said, I hope you are watching us and are okay with the way things are going."

In that moment, a bird landed on Rose's headstone. It sat there for a second, looking at all three of them, before it flew away again.

"Oh wow!" Elena whispered. "Do you think that was some sort of sign?"

Damon looked up at the sky, watching the bird fly high above the trees. He was smiling.

"Maybe it was. Come on, let's go before it gets too dark."

Lorenzo jumped up and grabbed onto Elena's left hand, while Damon latched onto her right. They slowly began to walk away. It was the start of a new life; a new family. All the pain from the past could be left behind them. Damon smiled at his son and Elena, while twirling the engagement ring on her finger….

**A/N: There you have it, the epilogue. I understood with the last chapter how some readers thought Damon and Elena's relationship happened kind of fast. You're right, that's true. However, if you've seen the movie this is based on, you'll know that there was also a love confession in that one very fast. It's just the way this movie was built. But, like I said, I understood your point of view and decided to show with this chapter how they **_**did**_** try and take it slow after their love confession. After all, there is a child involved and a man who has lost his wife. I hope you like the way I ended things. **

**A huge thank you goes out to my beta Kate (This Is My Escape). Since English is not my mother tongue, she helped me get my English grammar right. I love her and her enthusiasm whenever I write a new chapter. Thank you! **

**Of course, this story would never have been posted if it wasn't for Mollie (everythingbasedonlove). This lovely girl is amazing, and her advice has been my rock throughout this very story. **

**Lastly, thank you to all of you readers who stuck with me throughout every chapter. You rock!**

**Now, be a dear and please review this story one last time :)**

**Twitter: plainoldSandra**


End file.
